Rating: 
Summary: A severely underrated film
Review: Back during my late high school years, my father bought the "Wonder Boys" soundtrack. Hearing Bob Dylan's powerful and poetic masterpiece "Things Have Changed" was something that captivated me. Even though I hadn't seen the movie yet, Dylan's lyrics were nothing short of brilliant and just downright truthful. Sort of a bluesy feeling and self-loathing track, but done in a humorous way. At least, that's what I think of the track. Hearing this track got me wanting to watch the movie for myself.
Upon first viewing, the words that come up at the beginning of the movie kinda bugged me, telling the viewer that this movie was modified and edited. I panicked, but hearing Michael Douglas' character, Professor Grady Tripp, say the "f" word got me relieved... although I wonder why that "disclaimer" is even shown at the beginning of the film...?
The movie was nothing like I expected it to be. I expected an emotional drama that a simple-minded high school student won't understand. It's a movie that centers around Professor Grady Tripp. He's had it rough lately. His girlfriend leaves him, his other lover Sara (played by the wonderful Frances McDormand) is pregnant and contemplates on whether to have an abortion or not, one of his college students, James Leer (played by Tobey Maguire in probably his best role to date) is a moody person that Tripp doesn't understand, nosey editor Terry Crabtree (played hilariously by Robert Downey, Jr.) is hounding Tripp about his unfinished novel, which Tripp can't finish because he suffers from writer's block and ultimately wrote a 2000+ page epic that just goes on and on... and to make matters worse, Tripp has been experiencing blackouts and resorts to drugs to ease down.
This may look like some typical drama, but the most surprising thing about this movie is the fact that it's funny. I mean, it's just downright hilarious. So many odd things pop up, which only adds to Tripp's problems. His editor is going out with a *ahem* transvestite. His student, James Leer, shot a dog that belong to Tripp's lady friend Sara's husband, who happens to be Tripp's boss. I mean... this is one wacky movie. It's what some people categorize as a "dark comedy," "black comedy, "comedy/drama," or like how I categorize it: a "dramedy."
Even with its numerous humorous (heh... I made a funny!) scenes, the movie is also very touching. Despite Tripp's problems, he still manages to be a good teacher, as well as mentor, to James Leer. He wants to be a good husband to Sara (even if she's already married to his boss). And most of all, Tripp wants to finish his damn book so he could get Crabtree off his back.
"Wonder Boys" is truly one of the best movies of recent times. Wackiness ensues, but don't think of this as some slap-stick comedy. Think of it as more intelligent and witty humor. And there's the story of a teacher and a student that discover that there's pleasure and happiness in life. A severely underrated masterpiece and it ranks in my top ten favorite films of all-time. It was released in the year 2000, which I call the year of bad, awful, and lame movies. "Wonder Boys" isn't one of them. In fact, I'd call "Wonder Boys" the best film of 2000.
Rating: 
Summary: Quirky but good
Review: Wonderboys is an artsy film. It is about as far from the mainstream as you can get. Homosexuality, dead dog in the trunk, marijuana/alcohol abuse: such subject matter makes WB decidedly NOT a family or date movie. Not one you would watch with your mom. Wonderboys is best watched with open-minded friends or alone at night after a weird day. Masterful performances by Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, and Robert Downey, Jr.
Michael Douglas is a college writing professor at a small school in Pennsylvania. He is having an affair with the chancellor's wife, and his second novel is either stalled or out of control. Enter James, his oddball class prodigy. Played by Maguire, James' pale face and helpless demeanor leads Douglas to take him under his wing. But instead of providing fatherly guidance, Douglas and his editor pal Robert Downey Jr. lead James on lots of frat-boy hijinks.
Wonderboys will especially be appreciated by anyone who is a writer. The film will leave you with a thoughtful smile.
Rating: 
Summary: Modified and edited????
Review: I purchased this form Amazon, I put it in to watch it and the first thing i see is "THIS FILM HAS BEEN MODIFIED AND EDITED FOR CONTENT"?? Is everyone else's dvds like this? whats edited? I dont want to own any movie with any of its original content edited, It says nothing about on amazon. Is there another version out there?
Rating:
Summary: Michael Douglas at his best.
Review: If your a fan of either Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Katie Holmes, Robert Downey Jr. you will not be disappointed in Wonder Boys. The movie shows a struggling writer/college professor trying to finish his book with the various people in his life questioning his every move and every scene delivering a more hilarious laugh then the last. The entire cast delivers a good comedic performance whether intended or not. This movie will have you laughing till the end. Rent or buy it on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: Best Michael Douglas role ever
Review: A bit of bad luck at the box office prevented this movie from getting the hype it so richly deserves. Good luck finding roles into which Michael Douglas, Frances McDormand, Tobey Maguire, and Robert Downey, Jr., slip into as effortlessly and brilliantly as they do the ones in this film. With a script that neatly repackages Michael Chabon's excellent novel for the screen, Steve Kloves (lately the screenwriter for the Harry Potter series) shows where he mastered the craft of adaptation. And director Curtis Hanson follows up the tour-de-force of L.A. Confidential with this funnier, more bizarre, and ultimately more enjoyable effort.On one level, the movie plays out like a drug-induced dream sequence; it's almost implausible that so much would happen during a single weekend. Michael Douglas loses his wife, discovers his girlfriend (McDormand) is pregnant, flees the university at which he and his girlfriend work with his darkest and most troubled student after that student kills his girlfriend's husband's dog and steals Marilyn Monroe's wedding coat, exposes that student to pot and his literary agent of ambiguous sexuality, has his car stolen, loses a 2,000 page manuscript... Did I mention that his girlfriend is the chancellor and her husband is the chair of the department that employs Douglas? Yet all these events--and many more--feel very real during the movie. And not in the dreamlike way that anything makes sense while you're sleeping: this movie has the feel of truth. Other reviewers have complained that it's too weird, that each character's eccentricities pile on those of the others until it passes a level of acceptability. But people have quirks; some people are pathological liars, some people just like one kind of shoe, some people can only write in a pink bathrobe. In life we take these quirks for granted in the people we know and love; in Wonder Boys a group of people are thrown together, quirks and all, by fate and common interest and the confines of a very realistic university life. The interplay of their quirks, and the way that people who come to them with sympathetic eyes quickly rally to support one another, makes for a movie that engages, entertains, and provokes thought. If that's not what you look for in a movie, look elsewhere. If it is, prepare to add a new movie to your all-time favorites list.
Rating:
Summary: THE CHOICES WE MAKE IN LOVE & LIFE..
Review: This film is of that quirky, self-aware cadre that makes people easily dismiss it as pretentious, or worse, pointless. But I believe those who ascribe such notions to the movie have clearly missed the plot's subtle nuances, and the humorous undercurrent that permeates the entire theme. Wonder Boys has that charming yet simple elegance that draws on its real but clumsy characters -- all pretty painstakingly drawn out as we almost live their fumbling lives. Professor Tripp (Douglas) in particular was very credible as just about anyone among us. James Leer's (McGuire) obsession with celebrity suicides is made light of and overcast by his pathological lying. Holmes is appropriately cast to tantalize. Plus, the score is something to cherish thanks in no small measure to Bob Dylan's superb "Things have changed". A good chuckle comedy with a wistful look at midlife, decisions to be made or avoided. Recommended for the discerning viewer.
|
