Wonder Boys
2000 Directed by Curtis Hanson
Synopsis
An English Professor tries to deal with his wife leaving him, the arrival of his editor who has been waiting for his book for seven years, and the various problems that his friends and associates involve him in.
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You can tell right away that this is a writer's film. Not just a film about writers, but a film by and for writers, so it's pretty much right up my alley. It also happens to funny and clever and chock full of interesting characters. Even the side characters are delightful (Alan Tudyk doing his stoner best).
Michael Douglas is not only exceptional in this role, but I consider it to be his most underappreciated performance. I've never seen him better. Every shot and even the way the editing puts things together seems to fit the story that's being told so perfectly that it's hard to imagine it being made some other way.
This is one of the best novel…
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Adapted from a Michael Chabon novel, Wonder Boys is a comedy drama set at an unnamed Pittsburgh liberal arts college. Michael Douglas plays tenured english professor Grady Tripp, who, after writing a well received debut novel, is struggling eight years later on 2000 page followup. Like an overgrown graduate student, Tripp is bright but also disorganized, undisciplined and immature. We spend a weekend with Tripp, witnessing his affair with the university chancellor, his struggles with his unfinished manuscript and his pot-inspired shenanigans with students. The film boasts an impressive cast, most of whom are entirely likable and charming here.
Although I haven't read Chabon's novel, the film comes off as a superficial adaption of a much better source material. While…
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On first viewing, this film was pleasant enough to make me have a good time watching it. Subsequent repeated viewings revealed more and more layers of richness in the way these characters relate to one another. The closed sense of (protected) community is rendered perfectly, as is the melancholy feel of winter. Nothing (ok, maybe except the very last sequence) is overstated in this seamless, low-key comedy. After 'The River Wild', 'L.A. Confidential', and this, I am still waiting for Curtis Hanson to strike gold again, though 'In Her Shoes' was good enough.
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Well-acted by some of the best in the business. Quirky, but lacking in detail compared to the novel. Worth seeing, but not as great as I remembered it being.
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An interesting follow-up to Curtis Hanson's LA Confidential, this is a quirky indie film mixing drama and some very dark comedy. Great cast. Could be a modern Howard Hawks film in the vein of Bringing Up Baby with its crazy plot involving a writer who is having an affair with the college dean, whose boarding student has the same idea for herself, a pathological liar who will go to great lengths to steal a jacket worn by Marilyn Monroe and a dead dog. Dry, witty humour and Michael Douglas in the role of a lifetime, it's a film well worth checking out. & did anyone else notice all the little film references dropped throughout?
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..in arbeit
..einer meiner lieblingsfilme -
This is one of my favorite films and certainly one of a few from the new millennium. It's simply a drama about a College Creative Writing Prof. who goes through a lot over the space of one weekend, but all of the characters have that indescribable familiarity and the journey that the protagonist goes through along...well... anyway, it's a personal favorite. I love the soundtrack, and the dialogue and I even love the performances by actors I usually hate. It's definitely not my usual type of film but It reminds me of a specific period of my life, when I wanted to be a writer and meet some wonderful eccentric people.
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Wonder Boys is cliche and predictable. Katie Holmes' character is the most pointless character in a film I have seen for a long time. Yet, the acting is very strong to average the film out.
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Adapted from a Michael Chabon novel, Wonder Boys is a comedy drama set at an unnamed Pittsburgh liberal arts college. Michael Douglas plays tenured english professor Grady Tripp, who, after writing a well received debut novel, is struggling eight years later on 2000 page followup. Like an overgrown graduate student, Tripp is bright but also disorganized, undisciplined and immature. We spend a weekend with Tripp, witnessing his affair with the university chancellor, his struggles with his unfinished manuscript and his pot-inspired shenanigans with students. The film boasts an impressive cast, most of whom are entirely likable and charming here.
Although I haven't read Chabon's novel, the film comes off as a superficial adaption of a much better source material. While…
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A real underrated gem. I love everything about this film, from the story to the characters, to the way that everyone is kind of an asshole. It's nothing fancy, but it's hugely enjoyable and I wish more people praised it.
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As Grady Tripp, Michael Douglas dispels the roles he immersed himself in, the dark men of intellect he played in 'The Game', in 'A Perfect Murder' and in 'Wall Street'. He does it by slapping us in the face with charm. Tobey McGuire may earn our smile, but Douglas is there, delighting us with how he jingle jangles from frame one. And Downey, Jr., goofy as always, takes another opportunity to fit in among eccentric artists - - - by being the foil. Everyone here feels like an old friend from one of the many Bob Dylan songs which set the pitch perfect mood for 'Wonder Boys'.
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On first viewing, this film was pleasant enough to make me have a good time watching it. Subsequent repeated viewings revealed more and more layers of richness in the way these characters relate to one another. The closed sense of (protected) community is rendered perfectly, as is the melancholy feel of winter. Nothing (ok, maybe except the very last sequence) is overstated in this seamless, low-key comedy. After 'The River Wild', 'L.A. Confidential', and this, I am still waiting for Curtis Hanson to strike gold again, though 'In Her Shoes' was good enough.
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THE HANGOVER for overpriveleged white intellectuals. I loved it.
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Grady Tripp. Was ever a better role model for twentysomething would-be writers grafted to the screen?