Rating: 
Summary: Tobey Rocks.
Review: "Wonder Boys" is ranked number 4 in my top 10 movies of all time. "Pleasantville" and "Cider House Rules" are ranked high on this list too. Does anyone see a connection between the three? Tobey Maguire! Tobey is the best young actor that has shown up in a very long time. Something about the way he portrays his characters is astounding and very convincing. Same goes in this movie. His portrayal of James Leer is hillarious and depressing and sad at the same time. You really feel sorry for him. Michael Douglas, who I have never liked, makes a surprising performance. He is very funny, and movie in his protral of Tripp. Robert Downey Jr is HILLARIOUS. Nothing more can be said about him. HILLARIOUS. The rest of the cast is great too. This movie has everything--friendship, heartbreak, unexpected pregnancy, great acting, great plot, and a dead dog. What more can you ask for? Please go see it. It is a wonderful movie. Oh yea--One more thing--Tobey Maguire Rocks!!!
Rating:
Summary: An unpredictable, wonderful, movie
Review: There was no way I could predict all the twists and turns in
this movie. The acting was a joy to watch. Michael Douglas
gave a wonderful performance, in a manner quite different
from some of his prior 'hard hitting' roles. The plot was
so original, and the drama so engaging, that I left the
movie theater completely satisfied. Now that's
entertainment!
Rating:
Summary: Quirky and fun
Review: The acting by the entire cast is excellent. I had a good time watching this unfold. The characters are all slightly flawed and oh so human. Left me with a good feeling.
Rating:
Summary: Spectacular, subtle, worth every minute
Review: I fell in love with this film in the theatre, and rushed to buy it the day it came out on DVD. Maybe it's the fact that I'm a writer and an English teacher myself, but nearly everything about this film worked for me. Douglas is great, Downey Jr. is great, Maguire is great, the red boots are great ... ;). Yes, the ending is a little "pat," and that bugged me a LOT in the theatre, but when I watched it a second time, it didn't seem so bad. (...). What is the film about? Ultimately, it's about making choices, and facing the consequences of those choices. To say anything more would spoil it. Just see the film!
Rating:
Summary: A droll comic masterpiece
Review: If you can be nonjudgmental about casual reefer use and an implied gay lifestyle, then get set for a laugh riot of rare quality and dimension. Douglas is perfectly cast as the professorial pinball ricocheting from one misadventure to the next over the course of this single weekend at his college's "Bookfair"; the supporting cast is equally adroit and deliciously under-played. The entire effort is commendable mainly because it lets the hilarious novel tell its own tale on film. As such, I think there's little to be lost in either viewing or reading this title first. It is a good enough flick that I wanted it for my personal collection.
Rating:
Summary: Cold, bitter ... and faithful.
Review: In this intense, and sort of verborragic, movie, viewers take a slow and careful trip through the inner neurosis and dreams of the human soul. The critical and cynnical insight of Michael Chabon, the book author, is fully respected, and it's imagery is enhanced by the perfect pace of Curtis Hanson's direction. Although most people I know complain about the rythim of this picture, I believe the topic is delicate and involves a great degree of monotony. And not worrying about how well it would be accepted by the audience may be it's greater merrit. The cast is devious in it's status. Michael Douglas, Robert Downey Jr and Tobey Maguire would most probably be seen in Box Office movies. I must say that this one does not fit in this category. Brilliant performances, especially by Tobey Maguire and incredible cinematography (Cold and bitter - as the plot) make this the best movie of 2000. Gladiator seems like Braddock to me, compared to this one.
Rating:
Summary: See the movie!!! Read the book!!!
Review: We live in an unfortunate world wherein a book is only as good or as bad as its movie. Given the unfairness of this reality it makes my heart soar in the rare instance that the terrific movie in no way detracts from a terrific book and that they can be equally good in different ways.
Such is the case with "Wonder Boys." Take a perpetually-stoned professor/novelist, his bi-sexual editor, a brilliant, suicidal, pathologically untruthful student (a collector of Hollywood suicide trivia), throw in one transexual, Marilyn Monroe's wedding jacket, and a dead dog and you have all the ingredients for a lost weekend.
Steve Kloves delivers a wonderful screenplay from Michael Chabon's novel, laying the groundwork for Curtis Hanson's impeccable direction and the perfect musical compliment of Bob Dylan. While many novels suffer mightily in their necessary condensation to the screen, Kloves preserves the book's basic plotline and adds scenes of his own invention that are so concise and so wonderful they sent me racing back to the novel to reread phantom passages I must have missed the first time.
When Professor Tripp (Michael Douglas) and his editor, Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey Jr.) enter the home of James Leer (Tobey Maguire) to rescue him from his parents, Crabtree discovers James' story-in-progress in the typewriter (remember those?). In the film, James has crafted a thinly-veiled portrait of his professor/mentor that leads to the first of a small string of epiphanies in the film. The window shades are thrown open on Tripp's comic heart of darkness. As wonderful as this scene is, the book offers us a different picture. In the book what we see is Tripp secretly reading from James's new novel, making a spiritual connection with his difficult-to-understand student.
I recognize my own connection to a work when I have difficulty separating my own lust from the fictional reality. In both book and movie I found myself helplessly drawn to Hannah Green (Katie Holmes), the common-sensical/sensual student who comes on to Tripp, not realizing the depth of his problems. I guess I must have identified with Tripp because I kept finding myself rooting for him to give in to her advances, regardless of consequences.
But perhaps I've said too much...
Do yourself a favor -- see the movie. Read the book. In whatever order.
Rating: 
Summary: This is a really bad movie; no refunds given at the door.
Review: Curtis Hanson has made some very good movies(Bad Influence, LA Confidential, even Losin' It was cool), but this movie suffers from some kind of false scholastic irony and deadpan baby boomer humor that thinks can substitute for an entertaining story. Michael Douglas plays a loser. Tobey Maguire doesn't convince me that he is a genius underneath a loser exterior. And the absurd plot and weak relationships give the audience 120 minutes with no where to go. It is all a shame. This movie bombed for good reason.
Rating:
Summary: A movie for people who like "movies."
Review: If you can't stand to miss a Julia Roberts or Catherine Zeta Jones movie, you'd better not watch the "Wonder Boys." This movie is both riveting and intensely interesting. Although it's not filled with massive amounts of action, it has something that most movies don't, a good plot. This movie is for people who really enjoy seeing good movies. Michael Douglas and Robert Downey Jr. are absolutely amazing in this movie. It is definitely a must see.
Rating:
Summary: An near comedic masterpiece.
Review: Grady Tripp (Two Time Oscar-Winner:Micheal Douglas)is a college professor, his wife left him on that Friday morning and he also find out his girlfriend (Oscar-Winner:Frances McDormand) is pregant. On that weekend, there`s a festival for wanna-be writers called Wordfest, a three days fest. Grady life is about to change, when he gets to know better a brillant but suicidal writer student (Tobey Maguire), his best friend but an impatient bi-sexual editor (Robert Downey Jr.) and an young woman named Hannah (Katie Holmes), who lives with Brady and she has a serious crush on Brady. Now Brady has to decide the life, he wants and also making his first real decision on his life. This critically acclaimed film was release twice back in 2000, but no one went to see it. An winning performances from the cast. Smooth directing by Curtis Hanson (The Hand That Rocks the Cradle) and Superb screenplay by Steve Kloves from Micheal Chabon novel. Micheal Douglas gives his Best Performance yet. DVD`s has an great anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1) transfer and Clear Dolby Digital 5.0 Surround Sound. Also included:Interview with the cast, Commentary from the director at the location map of Pittsburg. Thetrical Tralier and Music Video featuring Bob Dlyan, which he Win an Oscar. It was also Oscar Nominated for Best Film Editing and Best Adapated Screenplay. This is an Impressive and Often Very Funny Film. Panavision. Grade:A.
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