Paint

Admit it. You’ve watched The Joy of Painting with Bob Ross at least once, staring at the screen for an hour, mesmerised by what is unfolding before our eyes. Soothed by the gentle voice of Ross‘ instructions. Maybe you were slightly intoxicated at the time after consuming recreational drugs at a friends house.

There’s also a good chance that, given the state you were in, you and your friends started meditating about this man. Who is Bob Ross? What’s he like, off screen when he’s not painting? And if you were young, still a bit juvenile, you might have discussed how he must be incredibly successful with the ladies. Just look at his hair. And how he‘s driving an orange van, no the colour is Tangerine, and how he takes his latest score to his favourite spot near the shore of a lake surrounded by rolling hills covered in green canopy. And at some point, someone said, guys, guys, you know what, this should be a movie. And thus, the idea for Paint was born.

Paint isn’t about Bob Ross, but it’s fair to say Carl Nagle, the public-television painter played by Own Wilson, is very inspired by Ross‘ appearance and disposition. It’s an entertaining movie, not great, not bad either, funny now and then but not too silly. Watch it on a grey Sunday afternoon in February to cheer you up when you need a little colour in your life.