2000 Directed by Curtis Hanson
Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.
Paramount Curtis Hanson Productions BBC MFF Feature Film Productions Marubeni Mutual Film Company Scott Rudin Productions Toho-Towa
Garotos Incríveis, Jóvenes prodigiosos, Τρομερά Παιδιά, Zlatni decki
Wonder Boys is what critics would label a sleeper. It came out back in early 2000 and tells a fun and interesting story featuring a talented ensemble of entertaining performances by Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr. and Frances McDormand, to name a few. The film is based on a novel of the same name by Michael Chabon, and this certainly is the kind of adaptation that makes me eager to track down the source material. While the concept of a writer struggling on his latest novel is hardly an original set up, a well-written screenplay with great dialogue and entertaining characters allows for the film to feel fresh and intriguing enough to keep you invested.
Wonder Boys tells the story…
I knew I would love this film when Tripp Grady says "It felt good to be in the car, alone where I could clear my head" and started to smoke weed. And I was not disappointed. I loved it.
This film with its brilliant cast, intelligently funny lines at every turn, and its core story about writers and their lives beautifully woven with humor, just roped me in and I willfully accepted being sucked into this one of a kind quirky dramatic comedy.
The thing I loved most about the film is how it flaps the normal formula of a veteran helping a loner, encouraging him and bringing him up to becoming something great. Yes it has that and a…
there's a scene in this where rdj and tobey maguire are in bed together, rdj stroking tobey's hair while he reads the manuscript of his book. this one short scene made me sort of mad bc i kept thinking about how much better this film would be if it was mainly about their characters instead of michael douglas, who is just a cliché washed-up writer type who's cheating on his wife (of course!) and can't finish his second novel (of course!)
”Professor Tripp, even if I end up going to jail you’re still the best teacher I ever had.”
Curtis Hanson’s follow up to L.A. Confidential is a mellower character study with a fascinating collection of characters.
Michael Douglas is outstanding, and there’s some great performances by the likes of a young Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Katie Holmes, Rip Torn and a rare pop up from Robert Downey Jr. amidst his dark period.
BONUS POINTS for an awesome soundtrack highlighted by Bob Dylan’s fantastic Oscar winning song.
”I’m still trying to figure out how to tell the chancellor that I murdered her husband’s dog.”
Quite possibly my favorite film of the year 2000.
Steve Kloves’s script deserves all kudos for his creation of refreshing dialogue, memorable characters, and a terrifically rambling story of an aging professor who finds himself at a crossroads in life. As he makes his life-altering decisions on one fateful weekend, all sorts of colorful, yet realistic, individuals attribute to his journey, including his daffy book editor (Robert Downey, Jr), his depressed but brilliant student (Tobey Maguire), his intelligent live-in admirer (Katie Holmes), and his married, yet loyal, girlfriend (Frances McDormand).
Every actor who embodies these characters each deserve rich acclaim, and Michael Douglas, as our irascible, lovable hero, takes the top prize.
The bare-bones plot of Wonder Boys is perfect for a delirious comedy of errors, but director Curtis Hanson and screenwriter Steve Kloves create a truly elegant, witty, understated and exhilarating portrait of a man whose life demands to get fixed before things get worse.
The film is made with an admirable balance between comedy and drama that few movies can accomplish. It is certainly a comedy, but not in the traditional sense of the word' it's a sophisticated and smart piece about what we really want and need to do in life and how to do it before it's too late. Some people may claim this is a movie about mid-life crisis, and in some level it is, but it…
57/100
Second viewing, last seen two days before its original theatrical release. (I hadn't yet started full-time at Time Out New York but must've somehow had access to press screenings as a freelancer.) Not much to add to what I wrote back then, though in hindsight I'm more impressed by what a non-issue Downey's and Maguire's characters ' queerness is. (The "transvestite," on the other hand...) Too blatantly a literary adaptation to really work, but enjoyably ramshackle.
Here's what I wrote in 2000:
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Fascinating war being waged here between the tidy and the chaotic, pay-attention-now gravitas and what-the-hell insouciance. That the less spontaneous faction ultimately proves victorious is a crying shame, because the picture is never more engaging than…
Fit as a fucking fiddle. There's something inexplicable about my love for this ensemble, and my need to revisit them nearly once a year. I just experience pure joy from this that I don't expect everyone to comprehend. You at least have to admit that Douglas is pretty incredible and this may be Maguire's best performance, particular his delivery of the word "Knapsack." I wish this would get a Blu-Ray release with oodles of extra scenes. Others may not find this as consistently amusing as I do, and it's a shame that Hanson fizzled away after this, but this one has a special place in my heart after countless rewatches over the years. The "take a bow" moment gets to me every time.
I've only seen only a handful of movies where as soon as we meet the characters, I've thought, "these are my people," but the characters in WONDER BOYS are 100% my people. (I like them more than some of my relatives.) This film not only gets writers; it gets me.
If you know me in real life, at least in certain circles, you know I despise calling myself a writer. It makes me feel pretentious and pathetic, and even though I would love nothing more than to earn my livelihood from writing my stupid little fictional stories, and even though I am published so ~technically~ I'm literally a writer, the word feels like a punch in throat every time I use it as a nomenclature. I hate it because I don't feel like I put in enough work to earn that word. I hate it because I'm more than some schlub who talks about why Joyce is a halfwit at small 'get togethers' of 40 people at a warehouse-turned-apartment off…
Sometimes all a movie needs to do to be amazing is just have a bunch of interesting characters do a bunch of interesting things.
Womder Boys is a confident and fun journey that does that and adds a few surprises along the way.
Michael Douglas makes the stereotypical character he portrays so enjoyable to watch even though the “drunk-writer-in-a-creative-block” archetype is so overplayed. All of the performances are great. Even young Toby Maguire kills it as the Donnie Darko style kid stuck in his own head. This falls way short of what I’d expect from all the star power behind it, but it is still a good movie if you just want a story; not something that’s gonna leave you with any kind of existential fulfillment or awe.
I remember when I was a teenager, I saw the DVD cover of this movie in a video store near my school. Somehow, Michael Douglas with glasses kinda reminded me of older, wiser Harry Potter and I thought this is a fantasy movie.
Well, I was wrong, Wonder Boy is a slice-of-life story about a relationship between an aging, once-famous author and his socially awkward student, who happens to be a boy genius, and it’s quite good. I really like how it smoothly balances the wacky character, crazy almost over-the-top plot with melancholic, calm tone in it.
It's definitely perfect for someone who’s looking for a “comfort movie” in this unpredictable time.
Grady: Trust me, James, when the family pet's been assassinated, the owner doesn't want to hear one of her students was the trigger man.
James: Does she want to hear it was one of her professors?
Grady: ...I've got tenure.
I remember turning on Pluto TV earlier this year for some background noise while I took a nap, this movie was on and it looked too interesting to just fall asleep to. I woke up at like 5am today, couldn't fall back asleep, strolled out to my living room, brewed up some high quality coffee (Maxwell House, only the best), and finally sat down to watch "Wonder Boys".
This is now my definitive movie set/filmed in Pittsburgh. A lot of…
It’s funny to imagine Rob McElhenney spending his weekends in Pittsburgh pretending to be an English undergrad so he can get laid (even though “it’s all bullshit”) while actually writing painfully earnest and sexually explicit poems that unwittingly out him as gay.
I really liked the characters, and the script was also very funny and well written for the scenarios. Also Bob Dylan made a kickass song just for this movie so that's always a bonus. I want to give this a higher rating but the way they repeatedly refer to a character as a transvestite and say one of the main characters is gay for being into her made me feel really gross and I didn't like it at all. A minor part of the movie sure, but it definitely is holding me back from giving this a higher rating it would deserve otherwise.
Here is a video about the history of transphobia in pop culture which I found very interesting. I think it is worth a watch if you have an hour of downtime.
Excited when I saw how great the cast was, but this fell a little short for me.
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