I am married with two children and live in the heart of England.
I am interested in the Internet, D...
I am married with two children and live in the heart of England.
I am interested in the Internet, DVDs, Music and Cars. I am studying for my Masters degree within the Criminal Justice Sphere.
Member since:26.07.2000
Reviews:59
Members who trust:6
With the strength in depth of this cast and the critical acclaim the film received it is perhaps a little difficult to understand why so many people haven’t heard of it. Curtis Hanson directed the film at the height of his powers shortly after L.A. Confidential had become a hit. Wonder Boys was completed at the start of 1999 but the finished product then became a victim of botched marketing and was a box office flop when it was released in the States in February 2000. This failure caused the Britsh release date to be pushed back to November 2000 whereupon the film again suffered from a lack of advertising. The film has since been re-released in the States but it appears your best chance of catching this now is on DVD.
Director: Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential) Running Time 111 minutes, 15 Certificate Cast: Michael Douglas Tobey Maguire Frances McDormand Robert Downey Jnr Katie Holmes Rip Torn
Michael Douglas is the college professor struggling to finish his second book seven years after the success of his first. The film covers the weekend in which his wife leaves him,
his mistress announces she is pregnant, his pushy editor arrives in town and his most promising student goes off on a monumental bender.
The film describes itself as a comedy but it is too slow in places to be an outright comedy. Ultimately it is a pleasant drama with good performances from its heavyweight ensemble. The only member that looks a little out of her depth is Katie Holmes but her role isn’t too demanding and she makes the most of her screen time being adorable and looking good enough to eat.
Choosing the right DVD isn’t as easy as it might be either. The British DVD buyer with a multi-region player will want to consider four versions of this release. The original British version was released in June 2001 and was an utter abortion of a DVD. It had absolutely no extras and featured only a standard screen 4:3 ratio edition of the film which had been formatted with very little attention paid to detail. In the meantime a Region 1 (USA) version was released which was hugely superior. A brand new British release (September 4th 2001) has brought the same quality of disc onto the Region 2 market and shares all the same features as it’s American cousin. The Region 4 Australian release shares the same specification as this new British disc. I plumped for the Region 1 release largely because I couldn’t wait and also because the latest Britsh release has sold at, or near, it’s RRP and it therefore works out cheaper to buy from an American or Australian DVD specialist on the Internet.
The picture is framed at about 2.35:1 and is produced anamorphically. While it is sharp and without artefacts it doesn’t exhibit a great deal of colour. This may be part of the production process as the film is set in Pittsburgh during the winter months and not Hawai at the start of the summer but even so, it fails to engage at this level and when the film starts to drag you’d like to think you could just enjoy the cinematography and scenery. Unfortunately, after you have dismissed the scenery as a grey backdrop, you’ll also be disappointed by the unimaginative sound staging. The disc is produced in a crystal clear Dolby Digital 5.0 with no hiss or distortion but at times you’ll wonder if your rear speakers are switched on. I understand that a film with no car chases or gun play is unlikely to set your sound system alight but simple things here like bird songs and wind noise for the outside shots are utterly confined to the front three speakers. The absence of the sub-woofer channel is understandable as the soundtrack offer very few sub 25Hz moments.
The menus on the latest releases are partially animated and scored. In addition to the illustrated scene access and theatrical trailer you have a composition made up of interviews from the major players in the cast. This lasts for about eleven minutes and isn’t bad but too long is spent with the cast talking up the director. There is an interactive map of Pittsburgh which has six separate shooting locations highlighted. Clicking on anyone one of these will have Curtis Hanson and friends telling you why they choose that particular location. Total footage of about six or seven minutes here but interesting and no doubt great fun if you have ever been to Pittsburgh. A good proportion of the extras are involved with the music to the film even to the extent of including the soundtrack album track listing in full. Bob Dylan’s ‘Things have changed’ video is here in widescreen with pro-logic sound. The final feature, ‘Songs of Wonder Boys’, acts as an isolated score with commentary for the six main songs in the film and runs for more than 20 minutes in total.
It’s a nice film and one that you can watch with your Granny. You won’t use the DVD to impress your mates with your latest sound system or widescreen telly but it may be a film you want to watch once a year in the winter. Don’t be put off by the disclaimer at the start of the film stating it has been cut from it’s theatrical release. Only one sentence has been removed and this involved a brief discussion about the suicide of Alan Ladd which the family objected to. All DVD releases of this film have that cut. Just be careful if you buy a British edition and check that it is the widescreen release.
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
I remember wanting to see this (because of Tobey Maguire) but I missed it - not sure if I'd want to buy the DVD though! Might have to have a trip to blockbuster! Thanks. Anna
tange 25.09.2001 17:56
A really interesting review...thanks for bringing this film to my attention.
Wonder Boysis one of those films in which more twists and turns disrupt the life of the ... more
hero in one weekend than would bother most of us our whole lives. Professor Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is an aging one-novel wunderkind at a small Pittsburgh col...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
An unfinished novel a stolen car a murdered pet and a failing marriage are just a few of ... more
the crises piling up like a logjam in this often hilarious story of bright promise gone awry. During a single hectic weekend college professor Grady Tripp (Mic...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
An unfinished novel a stolen car a murdered pet and a failing marriage are just a few of ... more
the crises piling up like a logjam in this often hilarious story of bright promise gone awry. During a single hectic weekend college professor Grady Tripp (Mic...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
Advantages: Comical, interesting and enjoyable. Disadvantages: Loose ends intentionally left at end of film may leave some viewers feeling slightly cheated.
michaelcrook 18.04.2001 (16.04.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wonder Boys (DVD)
Advantages: Some good performances. Handful of laughs. Downey and Maguire. Disadvantages: Boring at times. Feels it wants to be zany but instead tries for too much sentiment. Bad ending.
Darius 27.05.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wonder Boys (DVD)
Advantages: Some good performances. Handful of laughs. Downey and Maguire. Disadvantages: Boring at times. Feels it wants to be zany but instead tries for too much sentiment. Bad ending.
Darius 27.05.2001 ·
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wonder Boys (DVD)
![Wonder Boys [DVD] [2000]](http://picnicb.ciao.com/uk/78523971.jpg "Wonder Boys [DVD] [2000]")
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