People are going to pass The Wendell Baker Story on their DVD store shelf and think they must have missed reading about or seeing commercials for a major theatrical release. They didn't. As you watch The Wendell Baker Story and see major star after major star, including Owen Wilson, Eva Mendes, Will Ferrell, and Luke Wilson, you have to marvel at how a film like this couldn't get even a weekend with so much junk in theaters. Is Wendell Baker, the story of a guy who has to go to jail and rescue some good guys from a horrific nursing home to win back the heart of his girl, a good movie? No. It's too slow and too consciously loony, but it's not awful. If you're a big Wilson fan, it will get the job done on date night. You'll only be left to wonder why you were never given the chance to see it in theaters.

Afternoon at Luke's with Harry Dean Stanton and Seymour Cassel. Stanton and Cassel are two of the most underrated screen legends still working today. Stanton can seemingly do anything from intense drama to his unusual run of wacky comedy lately and Cassel simply has some of the best comic timing around. Watching them hang out with Luke Wilson one afternoon could be an entire movie on its own.

Sorry to say it, but the movie itself. Most of the extras. including the commentary and on-location footage, have that easy-going Wilson charm that's kind of missing from the film itself. The Wilson brothers are as charismatic as they come, but the film feels like they're TRYING to be charismatic. It's so self-consciously deadpan that it loses that deadpan charm.

The Wendell Baker Story should have at least been given a chance in theaters. If Code Name: The Cleaner and Daddy Day Camp get a wide release, anything the Wilson brothers do deserves the same. However, the fact that it didn't might actually add to the film's mystique, making it more likely to become a cult hit. Wendell Baker never had the chance to fail in theaters, now maybe he'll become an unlikely star on DVD.