Michael Douglas, Toby Maguire and Robert Downey Jr are the leading lights in this very watchable intelligent ‘mellow drama’ about writers, education, love and a dead dog. Bought the DVD because there wasn’t much else on the shelves at Blockbuster that evening. For the technically minded (and obsessed) the format is 16:9 and has little else but the movie and a scene selector to keep the trigger happy ….happy.
To the movie, it all starts in a rainy dismal Pittsburgh University Campus on the occasion of a workshop weekend for writers and the like. Michael Douglas takes the role of Grady Tripp, Grady is a frustrated university lecturer and a writer of some previous note who people fear has hit a block in his writing and his life in general.
The weekend sees him trying to straighten his life and writing problems this is not helped by the fact that his 3rd wife has just left him and he is responsible for making the Chancellor (or Dean whatever’s) wife pregnant. Oh and yes he is in love with her but its complicated, you have to watch the film to find out why. Interestingly the Chancellor is played by a wooden John Boy (ex Waltons). Also you never actually see his missing 3rd wife as she has gone away for the weekend with a chum, but you do meet her parents mid-movie and the house and bedroom she grew up in …which is nice.
Maguire plays a dark but rising star student who is having trouble with life and everything, Downey Jr plays Michael Douglas’es gay and confused publisher who is on hard times and needs a best seller from his client to rescue his sorry career. He will exploit anything that moves to get his job back on track and the weekend word-fest presents the opportunity to get close to his prey.
There you have it, the three main characters. There are plenty more but you’ll have to buy, pay-per-view, rent or watch the movie at a friends to find out. Marylin Monroe also makes an appearance or rather her clothes and photograph do.
You get the impression that everyone in the movie has been given the chance to play someone different that they have never been able to do in the past. Nice experiment that actually works.
Anyway find a rainy Saturday or Sunday afternoon, pour the hot chocolate and watch the movie.
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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
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: The sharp script and lead performance from Micheal Douglas, well supported by a fine cast. Disadvantages: This won't appeal to some and can drag in a few places.
Mercury 18.06.2001 (18.06.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Wonder Boys (DVD)
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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