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WONDER BOYS
Movie Review
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Ignore the useless poster and the pat tag-line ("Undependable. Unpredictable. Unforgettable.") Wonder Boys is more wonderful, and pleasantly weirder, than the publicity suggests.
Meet Grady Tripp, college professor, aging hippie, canine-murder- conspirator (you have to see it to understand) and title character -- someone who hits such an outrageous grand-slam so early in his career, he can hardly top himself. And Grady (Michael Douglas) is just that. He can't finish his second novel because he's scared it won't even match his smash-success first.
To boot, he's juggling a love affair with the university chancellor (Francis McDormand), a nagging editor (Robert Downey Jr.) and the care of his most talented student (Tobey Maguire), who may or may not be a genius and a pathological liar.
Based on Michael Chabon's novel and directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), Wonder Boys is an ensemble piece that features superior acting and beautifully simple cinematography.
Minor plot quibbles (Grady's relationship with his students is more like that of a graduate school instructor than an undergrad professor) are forgivable. But Wonder Boys suffers from an identity crisis just sizeable enough to be distracting. A character piece, Wonder Boys resorts to moments of plot-advancing near-slapstick comedy that disrupt the lovely, almost theatrical tone that it uses to develop the themes of nostalgia, isolation, hope and the proverbial passing of the torch.
See Wonder Boys for the acting, particularly McDormand and Maguire, but use the goofy moments to get popcorn refills.
Copyright © TNT's Rough Cut
