Even the worst simulation would have more clarity than this. Life might be messy and weird and scary, but it possesses more honesty than this cinematic misery.

It's easy to get ahead of the story in Bliss, and its final stretch has a comedy-sketch capriciousness...

Writer-director Mike Cahill takes earnest stabs at big ideas and themes, including the concept of "bliss," but never clearly or cogently enough to draw us in on an emotional or intellectual level.

Casting against type can work well, but lumbered with a heavy-handed script, Wilson still feels like the guy who wants to crack open some Bud Light and make fart jokes.