I had intended to see "Renfield" last weekend, with Nicolas Cage and Nicholas Hoult, but since it's not screening at a theater near me yet, I decided to take advantage of this "happy little accident" by seeing "Paint" instead, starring Owen Wilson as fictional pastoral painter Carl Nargle, who is very obviously based on legendary real-life artist Bob Ross, who died in 1995.

More than a quarter-century after his death from cancer, it's a testament to Bob Ross' artistic legacy and his aesthetic that he continues not only to appear in parodies such as "Paint," but has also been the subject of...