Paint (2023)

Paint, from writer-director Brit McAdams, centers on Carl Nargle (Owen Wilson), a Bob-Ross-alike public TV figure who has hosted Vermont’s number one painting show for nearly three decades. He’s convinced he has it all: the signature perm, a perfect custom van, and legions of very attached viewers. But while Carl’s signature soothing whisper has long kept viewers from Pittsfield to St. Albans breathlessly hanging on his every stroke, the station eventually hires a younger, better painter who steals everything (and everyone) Carl loves. Also starring Michaela Watkins and Stephen Root.

A longtime entry on the Black List (an annual collection of the best unproduced screenplays floating around Hollywood) Paint is a fun and poignant playground for Wilson and company to poke fun at the pitfalls of ego and entitlement. In even the world’s smallest pond, some fish gets to be the biggest.