Wonder Boys (2000)

What the Hell is going on here? "Wonder Boys" is one of the best movies of 2000, and I'd hardly heard of it before I rented it a month ago. When I subsequently researched it on IMDb I found that, while the critics loved it, it flopped at the box office. Why was that? Is it the producers, BBC, being not-for-profit, don't know how to market a movie? With "A Beautiful Mind", Ron Howard and DreamWorks have proved that small, well-crafted movies can bring in the patrons, lots of them...and the awards. "Wonder Boys" is in that class. Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey, Jr., and Frances McDormand all give solid performances. The story, a dark comedy, is well told and directed. There's no reason why this movie should not have been box office gold as well as Oscar gold. Whoever was responsible for promoting this movie, shame on you. Find another profession.

Fmovies: With subtle nuances such as Grady trying to validate himself as a writer by saying tired clichés, "It's the kind of house you want to wake up in on Christmas," Wonder Boys is a brilliant picture. The great Curtis Hanson, which for my money, is the one of the most consistently excellent director working, makes this film have a wonderful feel, which is important because the words on a page have texture, feeling and purpose. He makes it palpable.

The performances are spectacular. Toby Maguire works his boy-childness with subtle perfection. Robert Downey Jr. devours this character up and becomes another memorable, quotable, relatable entity on film. How does he do it? And of course, two solids: Michael Douglas and Frances McDormand.

It's funny how smaller, lesser known films that are of great quality like this don't need an ad campaign that leaves everyone nauseous with dilution ("I've seen the preview so often, if they were showing the film I would be out by now"), destroy the drum to let you know what great singer(s) cum actor(s) are in this spectacle, or how extreme we can be for the sake of a plot.

"Wonder Boys" is about people. People who are at the juncture. It's like a group of friends that came to school, live together in a house, share great times, and will part, only to have the memories. The time will never be genuine again; only the memory. This film is about that juncture.

What's more to say except if more films were like this, I would be seeing more films in the theater. Simple, not trying to overextend, everyone has a story, or in the right hands, they can make a up a great one for you. Even the President of the James Brown Hair Club.

There's a reason the best films at the academy awards are the ones up for Best Screenplay

10/10

I truly enjoyed this film. I went into the theater not knowing much about it; perhaps that had something to do with the reason I liked it so much. I found this film to be extremely witty and entertaining. I found myself intrigued by each character, especially the dark, mysterious James Leer (Tobey Maguire). It has been a while since I have sat in a theater merely enjoying a movie. The storyline was rather odd, but kept my interest. The students in the film had a quite casual relationship with their professors. All in all, I can say that each actor gave a wonderful performance; and if you are looking to see a film that upon leaving the theater will make you feel happy and disturbed, then this is the film.

Wonder Boys fmovies. At a recent Dylan concert, my friend Charlie pointed out a shiny gold statuette placed unobtrusively atop one of the speakers way in the back of the stage. It was the Oscar which Dylan won for his Best Song "Things Have Changed" from this movie, from "The Wonder Boys." I was glad that my friend pointed out that gold thing in the background because it added a whole other dimension to the concert. There was a story behind the statue - the whole "Wonder Boys" story and I was glad to be familiar with it. No, Bob never mentioned the statue. Why should he? He's Bob Dylan. He just did his thing, played his music.

Life presents us with the absurd as much as it does the mundane. Watching the way people handle the good and bad drama in their life is a hobby of mine. I liked the way Bob Dylan kept his "Wonder Boys" gold quietly present.

Michael Douglas' Grady Tripp doesn't call attention to his abnormally odd weekend, either. Douglas' Grady always maintains his cool even with a transvestite's tuba and his mistress' husband's dead dog and "the Crabtree pharmacopoeia" in the trunk of his ass-marked car. Grady deals with all of it. Grady deals with everything this peculiar weekend shows him - with a calm voice and an attitude mellowed from either age or experience or pot. In the here and now, he is calm and quiet but we all know that he'll have his anxiety or heart attack quietly near offstage with as few crowds and drama about them as possible.

Grady speaks lines like "gimme the gun, James" matter of factly, the same way that his married girlfriend tells him she's pregnant, the same way he'd order a drink from Oola. Why add drama and histrionics to the mix? He is what he is. Things are the way they are - even though things have changed.

One of the things that separates one human from another is the way we deal with change. isn't it? Personally? I want to hear about the absurdities of life. I like observing how people deal with it all. I like those stories.

Tripp's fellow travelers are in flux too - it's not just Grady going through change - his wife (unseen), his mistress (France McDormand), his editor (Robert Downey, Jr.), his students (Tobey Maguire and Katie Holmes) - all of them are experiencing an extraordinary weekend but there's hardly a voice raised in the storytelling.

The soundtrack alone is worth the viewing, thanks, Bob Dylan! And Curtis Hansen, Michael Chabon - tell me another story, please! If you can manage to bring a similarly wonderful ensemble cast - even better!

Mostly ignored upon release and subsequently forgotten, this gem from 2000 is my favorite work from Curtis Hanson, who was deciding between directing this film and what was to be the Brett Ratner/Nic Cage film The Family Man. Good choice Mr. Hanson. The film was poorly marketed in the US and given a terrible release date in February and tanked, but psychotic producer Scott Rudin used his muscle to get the film re-released at the end of the year for Oscar consideration. It picked up a few nominations, but tanked again in the box office. This a is such a nice, warm and beautiful film that I find it puzzling that it also received a C cinemascore from audiences. That's a toxic exit poll and a death blow for word of mouth. There really isn't a moment in the film that feels false or out of place. It's constructed with such care and so beautifully shot by Dante Spinotti. Michael Douglas does his best work here and the man is in almost every frame of the film and he carries it like a pro. There isn't a false note in his performance and Grady Tripp is an unforgettable character. It's a simple film that takes place over a few days about characters going through complicated times in their lives and it never falls into sentiment or is condescending to the audience. It's almost perfect and it's very funny.

Michael Douglas has always been one of my favorite actors. He deserved his Oscar for Wall Street, commanded every second of screen time he had in Falling Down, and has given some of the most underrated comic performances in history in Romancing the Stone and War of the Roses. But I'd have to give his performance in Wonder Boys as his best. His turn as stoner college professor Grady Tripp is the model for the laid back, totally likeable and loveable protaginist. He's the kind of professor I dream of having in real life.

After watching this movie, I seriously wanted to go and write a book. For any of you blocked writers out there, just pop in Wonder Boys and you have your muse.