Full Review

Renaissance man Luke Wilson gets to strut his stuff in an offbeat but engaging little film he wrote, co-directed and co-executive produced, with assists from others in the talented Wilson brood, including uncle Joe ("special operations"), mother Laura (who served as still photographer) and others mentioned below.

"The Wendell Baker Story" (ThinkFilm) concerns a con artist, the titular Wendell Baker (played by -- did we mention? -- Luke Wilson) who, at the film's start, takes his good-naturedly indulgent girlfriend Doreen (Eva Mendes) for granted.

He makes his living forging driver's licenses for Mexican migrant workers whom he charms with stories of his friendship with Salma Hayek and Jimmy Smits, and he's supported in the scam by his buddy Reyes (Jacob Vargas), despite the latter's disapproving wife.

Just when Wendell's most cocksure of himself, he gets busted, and lands in prison where he takes his incarceration with a breezily nonchalant air, even showing a lack of the requisite appreciation when Doreen comes to visit. (He leaves her to play football with the other jailbirds.)

He uses his prison time to good effect, though, by reading up on hotel management, an occupation observed with admiration by the prison staff who allow him early parole to work at a senior retirement hotel called Shady Grove.

Wendell soon learns that the corrupt administrators there -- male nurse Neil King (Owen Wilson) and his sidekick, McTeague (Eddie Griffin) -- are exploiting some of the residents by stealing their Medicare checks, and shipping them off to a farm for enforced labor.

The now completely reformed Wendell, who takes his new post conscientiously, enlists some of the lovable old codgers, who include Skip (Harry Dean Stanton), Boyd (Seymour Cassel) and Nasher (Kris Kristofferson) to rescue the ones who have been so duped. Meanwhile, he determines to win back Doreen whom he realizes is his true love, but who has since moved on to jealous supermarket manager Dave (Will Ferrell in a cameo role).

Luke Wilson's appealing performance is surrounded by good work from everyone else, with special nods to Cassel, Stanton and brother Owen.

The quirky story -- co-directed with brother Andrew -- has an intentionally ragtag feel, but some flagged material notwithstanding (including a questionable scene in which Boyd and Skip flirt with two young women), keeps its heart firmly in the right place, with almost all the characters -- except, of course, for the comically venal Neil -- behaving decently.

The film contains scattered profanity and crude language, sexual banter and innuendo, implied premarital situations and brief punching episodes. The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-III -- adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 -- parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.