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WONDER BOYS
Movie Review
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Irreverence, wit, lies, old movies, writer's block -- and a murdered dog.
What more can one ask from a film? This ain't your ordinary teenage frivolity-fest about slashers, sex and prom dates.
Oscar-nominated director Curtis Hanson ("L.A. Confidential," "The River Wild, " "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle") has stepped away from the thriller genre and vigorously gone for something closer to the throat -- and heart.
"Wonder Boys" is a terrific movie about middle-age malaise and a comedy of unusual wit and drollness.
Pot-smoking prof Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is a 50-ish "wonder boy," whose first novel achieved J.D. Salinger-like cult status. But his highly anticipated new tome sits yellowing in the bottom drawer of his desk, unfinished and unending. And on a fateful weekend in the slushy dead of winter, Tripp is about to find out why he cannot finish it.
His personal life also has gone to pot. His young wife has left him, he's having an affair with the married chancellor of the Pittsburgh college where he teaches (Frances McDormand) and his New York editor (Robert Downey Jr.) is chafing to get his hands on Tripp's new novel.
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