Eva Mendes, Luke Wilson, and Owen Wilson star in the “Wendell Baker Story,” a comedy about a con man, played by Luke, who gets his first legitimate job in an old folks’ hotel. He soon discovers the terrible way evil head nurse Luke treats the residents and hatches a plan with the ornery old folks to get back at him. It also features Eddie Griffin, Kris Kristofferson and Harry Dean Stanton.

“Wendell Baker” is set in Austin, Texas, and has a real Texas feel with scenes from the city along with a southern rock and harder country soundtrack. It was directed by brothers Owen and Andrew, and will be released on May 13 in the US. It’s said to be a sort of Mother’s Day present to their mom, an accomplished photographer who worked on the film with them. The family dog even appears on screen.

The film has a release date on IMDB of August, 2005 in Belgium and was premiered at several film festivals in 2005 and 2006 and is available on DVD in select countries. I wonder what took so long for the US release, but it could be some kind of distribution issue as it’s not being panned by critics.

The film is receiving mixed reviews, and is said to be a decent feel-good comedy.

Here’s the trailer:

Owen’s girlfriend Kate Hudson did not walk the red carpet at the Beverly Hills premiere, but she did join him for the after party. She was also at the Dallas premiere. People quotes both of Luke’s brothers praising her, with Andrew saying she’s great at family soccer games.