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New Century of Cinema
DOWSE Guide to the
Movies
by Tony Lee editor of
Pigasus
Press
Wonder Boys
Director: Curtis Hanson
111 minutes (15) widescreen 2.35;1
review by Gary Couzens
Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) was once a wonder boy, but that was
seven years ago with his award-winning novel 'The Arsonist's Daughter'. Now, he's
holding down a job as a college English professor while he struggles to finish his
next novel, which is up to page 2611 and counting. He's having an affair with Sara,
his principal's wife (Frances McDormand), who is carrying his child. He's frequently
drunk or stoned. It's the weekend of the college's Wordfest festival, and his
flamboyant agent Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey Jr), a tall transvestite on his arm,
is in town and expecting to see the work in progress. Grady's most gifted, and
strangest, student, James Leer (Tobey Maguire), is the catalyst for his lurching from
one misadventure to the next...
Michael Chabon hit it big with his first novel, the impressive 'The Mysteries of
Pittsburgh' (as yet unfilmed), and 'Wonder Boys' is partly about his struggles to
follow it up. Director Curtis Hanson was widely regarded as a competent journeyman,
mostly of thrillers, before he made L.A. Confidential, the best American film
of its year. Apart from being another adaptation of a novel, Wonder Boys,
scripted by Steve Kloves (who had his own success as a writer/director with The
Fabulous Baker Boys), is a distinct change of pace for Hanson. It's a character-driven
comedy-drama, a coming-of-age story except that the protagonist is in middle age.
Wonder Boys originally opened in the USA in February 2000, to fine
reviews but little business. Normally, it would be out on video and DVD by now, but
in an unusual move, the film's distributors are re-releasing it in America with a new
marketing campaign in the hopes of Oscar consideration. Wonder Boys is too
upscale and 'literary' (in style as well as subject matter) to ever reach a mass
audience, but it's further proof that Hollywood can make intelligent entertainment
for adults if it wants to. If he doesn't get an Oscar nomination for Steven
Soderbergh's forthcoming (and, as I write this, unseen), Douglas should certainly get
one for this. Grey-haired and looking dishevelled, he gives his most appealing
performance in a long time, backed up by a first-rate supporting cast. Curtis
Hanson's direction is extremely deft, and Dante Spinotti's camerawork adds to the
mood of melancholy without drawing undue attention to itself. The pace slackens a
little in the midsection, and the ending (softened from the novel) is a little
underwhelming. But Wonder Boys is a class act in many ways, and as a bonus
playing over the credits is a Bob Dylan original ('Things Have Changed'), no less!
Check out this site's review of the Wonder Boys
soundtrack.
Back to Movies on Dowse index.
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