Michael Douglas

Tobey Maguire

Frances McDormand

Robert Downey Jr.

Katie Holmes

Rip Torn

Richard Knox

Jane Adams

Michael Cavadias

Richard Thomas

Alan Tudyk

Philip Bosco

George Grizzard

Kelly Bishop

Bill Velin

Charis Michelsen

Yusuf Gatewood

June Hildreth

Elisabeth Granli

Richard Hidlebird

Screamer

Bingo O'Malley

Patricia Cray

Marita Golden

Victor Quinaz

James Ellroy

Lenora Nemetz

Tracey D. Turner

James Kisicki

Rob McElhenney

Anika Bobb

Katherine Sweeney

Katrina M. Faessel

John W. Iwanonkiw

Sean King

David Lean

Jackson Nunn

Sandy Slicker

Andrew Zehner

Michael Chabon

Curtis Hanson

Steve Kloves

Christopher Young

Dante Spinotti

Scott Rudin

Dede Allen

Adam Schroeder

Donald B. Woodruff

Lisa Grundy

Beatrix Aruna Pasztor

Jonathan McGarry

Ned Dowd

Mali Finn

Jay Hart

Pat Rand

Zane Weiner

Joseph Coscia

Allen Weisinger

Kymbra Callaghan

Sacha Quarles

Michal Bigger

Renee Hill-Sweet

Doug Metzger

Annie Loeffler

Aaron F. Quarles

Jeff Imada

Jeannine Oppewall

Comedy

Drama

Wonder Boys

Paramount Pictures

Mutual Film Company

Scott Rudin Productions

Curtis Hanson Productions

Marubeni

TOHO-TOWA

Tele München

MFF Feature Film Productions

Germany

Japan

United Kingdom

United States of America

English

adultery

infidelity

robbery

based on novel or book

police

pennsylvania, usa

winter

midlife crisis

professor

college

liar

coming of age

marijuana

snow

writer

university

drugs

bisexual man

drag

pittsburgh, pennsylvania

gay theme

small town america

Peter McGinn

I have to believe I saw this movie a year or two after it came out, but I had no feelings of deja vu as I watched it, so perhaps not. I usually have very little patience for movies about writers because I am one, and I get tired of them bringing up writers’ block, which I don’t believe exists, or else they have the character become wildly successful in record time. There are a lot of struggling actresses and musicians and waitresses in movies, but writers often get fast-track succes.

Anyway, I wander off topic. I enjoyed the movie with its range of quirky characters, and minor plot twists. There are only a couple of two-dimensional characters; the rest are given depth, even a few who don’t have a lot of screen time. It shows what can be achieved with a good ensemble cast and a decent script.

CinemaSerf

"Prof. Tripp" (Michael Douglas) hasn't his troubles to seek. He hasn't been able to follow up on his first novel for almost seven years - much to the chagrin of his agent "Terry" (Robert Downey Jr); his third wife has left him and he is about to father a child with his (married) boss (Frances McDormand) at the university where he works. His writer's block isn't really much helped by the omnipresence of his star pupil "James" (Tobey Maguire) nor by his increasingly debilitating pot habit. It's the man's mid life crisis from hell, but can he navigate a way out of this and keep some semblance of his self respective and, maybe even his career! Meantime, his protégé is having a few issues of his own - not least because he accidentally shot the principal's dog and he is the object of the amorous attentions of the ambisextrous "Terry" too! There's quite a decent dynamic between Douglas and Maguire as both men have to come to terms with their own problems and with their growing reliance on and frustration of each other and there is plenty of witty dialogue that is more complexly structured and subtly potent at times. The narrative is quite tightly packed into just one weekend, and that helps keeps the momentum going as the characters develop in quite a plausible - and not always likeable - fashion. Luckily, the one-dimensional Katie Holmes appears only sparingly as the plot thickens to a nicely bubbling stew at the end. It's a decent reminder that Douglas could act, given a strong story and script, and he shows us that well here with this superior ensemble drama.

Wonder Boys (2000) ORIGINAL TRAILER [HQ]

Wonder Boys( 2000)

Undependable. Unpredictable. Unforgettable.

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A review by Peter McGinn

Written by Peter McGinn on Mon Feb 08 2021

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