by Yazmin Ghonaim

WONDER BOYS Curtis Hanson (2000) Wonder Boys, directed by Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), explores the comedy of Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas), a writer whose previous success --an award-winning novel-- accentuates his present failures. Wonder Boys builds its comedy by contrasting the respectability, automatically implied by Grady's position as a university professor and as an awarded writer, to the immaturity and spontaneity that drive his personal life. "Wonder Boys", a term which is defined in the film as "someone who's had great success early in life and then has to face the fear and insecurity of forever living up to himself", focuses on Grady's mishandling of his present situation: his wife has abandoned him, his new novel has surpassed the author's ability to conclude it, and his not-so-secret lover and university chancellor Sara Gaskell (Frances McDormand: Almost Famous) keeps collecting reasons to resent him. The story evolves as his suicidal student James Leer (Tobey McGuire: The Cider House Rules), his needy publisher Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his flirtatious roommate (Katie Holmes) seek security in him and find the opportunity to experience the chaos during the fallen Grady's time of crisis. Wonder Boys is a film which emphasizes character over story, successfully integrating the idiosyncracies of its main characters into the more fundamental issues with which they struggle. The oddities which define the originality of numerous scenes also provide a space for the actors in which to flourish; a space which is further explored by a fluid camera. Wonder Boys is a film which finds a degree of freedom as a result of its unpredictable narrative, its full character development and its unrestrained camera movements.		DVD Music Books Search by keywords:
Outstanding Features: Character development, Acting Wonder Boys Movie Review © 2000 Cinephiles - All rights reserved Photo © Paramount Pictures