Film Review: Wonder Boys (2000)
Good literature seldom turns into good films. This rule applied to Wonder Boys, 1995 novel by Michael Chabon, and its 2000 film adaptation directed by Curtis Hanson.
The protagonist, played by Michael Douglas, is Professor Grady Tripp, middle-aged intellectual who earns his living by teaching creative writing at unnamed Pennsylvania university. Some time ago he rose to fame with his first novel, but creative spark has apparently left him and he has spent past few years in vain attempting to finish his second novel. Grady is going to experience additional problems when his wife leaves him on the same day Sara Gaskell (played by Frances McDormand), university chancellor with whom he has an affair, informs him that she is pregnant. To make things worse, all that coincides with local literary festival, which is attended by Crabtree (played by Robert Downey Jr.), Grady’s agent who pushes him to finish his novel. But the biggest trouble will be cause by James Leer (played by Tobey Maguire), Grady’s student who possesses literary talent but also has some destructive character traits.
Wonder Boys is one of those films that illustrate the chasm between general public and snobbish critics that tend to favour certain type films. While the former rejected it at the box office, the latter praised it, which reflected itself in three Oscar nominations and Bob Dylan winning Oscar for Best Original Song for “Times Have Changed”. On one hand, arguments in favour of Wonder Boys can be found in mundane but realistic plot set in the world of academia, seldom portrayed by Hollywood. Curtis Hanson, film maker that few years ago made excellent film noir L. A. Confidential, directs this drama well and wisely avoid temptations to spice it up with toilet humour, violence and sex. Even the character of a student played by Katie Holmes, one of the most desirable actresses of the time, fails in the attempt to bring the protagonist to her bed. The cast is very good, which includes Douglas playing middle-aged loser that smokes cannabis in a gown left by his ex wife. Even better are Tobey Maguire as troubled youth and Robert Downey Jr. as unapologetically horny gay man. But before the film comes to an end, it becomes clear that feature film isn’t always the best medium for adapting the novel; various subplots and characters, that would require tens of pages of text, are left out or undeveloped. And the realism of the plot is compromised by typically Hollywood-like happy ending. Failure of The Wonder Boys at the box office was blamed at the poorly designed poster, which led to film being redistributed few months after the premiere, but again with poor commercial results. The Wonder Boys might be appreciated by fans of Chabon’s work or Michael Douglas, but everyone else would probably agree with general audience’s verdict.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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