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Sometimes, movie makers manage to create a world that one cannot resist being pulled into. In this world one lingers for a couple of hours, waiting for the next minute with a smile on one's lips. "Wonder Boys" is one of the best movies of recent years in that it successfully drags the viewer along on it's whimsical and sometimes really strange journey.

The characters are believable despite their alien behaviors - the only normal person around might just be Hannah Green (Holmes), skirting around the main characters like an observing ghost. Douglas is pulling off what must be his best performance ever, portraying a decaying, once-famous addict writer with a severe case of reversed writer's block: he can't finish his novel and he can't stop writing... Tobey Maguire is very well cast with his innocent yet troubled look, and Frances McDormand is just as she always is: fantastic.

I'm very impressed with this film, which took me off-guard. Not many I know went to see it. I'm glad I did.

I have to admit that when i first saw the trailer for this film, I thought, "Sweet Jesus, this looks a lot like Rushmore!" complete with a dishelved Michael Douglas doing the Bill Murray/Mr. Blume thing and Tobey Maguire as a rambunctious, upstart kid a la Max Fischer. Man, was I wrong. Wonder Boys is the kind of small, oddball little film with a definite, quirky, dark sense of humour and a cast of eccentric characters that are never colourful for the sake of it. Michael Douglas disappears completely into the role of Grady Tripp, a burnt out English professor, who once wrote a much celebrated novel but has since been having a hard time with his follow-up. He just keeps writing and writing with no end in sight (current page count sits around 2100 pages!). the film starts at the beginning of a truly hellish day for Tripp as his wife leaves him, his girlfriend tells him she's pregnant and he almost gets killed by her husband's blind dog. throw in an eccentric writing protege (Tobey Maguire), Tripp's bi-sexual literary agent (Robert Downey, Jr.) and his transvestite date, and you've got quite an interesting mix of characters. in some ways, Douglas' character is a pot-smoking burn-out like the Dude from THE BIG LEBOWSKI. he is content to live outside of society, putt around, write his novel, teaching his classes but when he crosses paths with Maguire's character, he realizes that he's got to change. Douglas is more than up for this role. i'm not a huge fan of the man's work (WALL STREET and THE GAME excepted) but he's perfectly cast in this film. he hits just the right note of world-weary cynicism but with a romantic streak buried underneath. you can tell that he's got the capacity to do something about his miserable lot in life and during the course of the film his character undergoes a fascinating arc. the real stand out of this film, though, is Tobey Maguire. i've only seen him in a few things, here and there and i never really noticed him all that much before (although, he was great in PLEASANTVILLE. everyone in the film keeps harping on what a genius writer Douglas' character is, but it quickly becomes apparent that Maguire's character is the true genius. he writes pages and pages of beautiful prose in minutes. and like any true talent, it just comes pouring out of him effortlessly. Maguire nails that kind of visionary talent perfectly. his character is so different from his peers and you are never sure what makes him tick, until 3/4 of the way through when another side of his intriguing personality is revealed. at first, you think his character is pretty one-dimensional -- the oddball genius -- but Maguire provides all sorts of layers and subtle nuances to his character that are great to watch. it doesn't hurt that Steve Kloves' script is a solid piece of writing. clever, insightful dialogue that tells you volumes about these characters. the dialogue is humourous and offbeat in one scene, touching and thoughtful in the next. Kloves also wisely avoids the usual cliches... ie. the romance between the older man and younger woman. just when you think it's going to go there, the film veers off to something different and better. every character has their moment to really define themselves with the possible exception of Katie Holmes who seems to be sorely underused. which is too bad, really, because the scenes she does have are good. it's nice to see that she can do more than just DAWSON'S CREEK. and lastly, the mood and atmosphere of this movie is so magical. to me, the best films are ones that you lose yourself in completely. the characters and the world they inhabit are so real, so three-dimensional that you can't help but get sucked in. WONDER BOYS does that so well. the attention to detail -- a snowy winter in Pittsburgh -- is beautiful realized. esp. the night time scenes, like one in which Douglas and Maguire talk outside in a backyard while the snow falls gently around them... are so well done, i felt like i was right there. and isn't that what a good film should do? make it able for you to escape for a couple of hours? hard to believe that the guy who made L.A. CONFIDENTIAL did this one. a complete change of pace and mood and... everything. amazing stuff. anyways, i reallly dug WONDER BOYS. it's the first film i've seen this year that has really affected me in a profoundly personal way. a film that as soon as it was over, i wanted to go right back in and watch it again.

Not many people have heard of this film. It's not what the masses want, they yearn for Men In Black II, Legally Blonde, Die Another Day and so on. This minor gem is strange, unconventional, rich and moving. It is a classically written character study with unexpected comic twists and turns from every angle. You feel warmer for having watched this movie, and it is a shame that films like these only occur once or twice a year.

Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is a middle-aged professor of English, and is writing his second novel, `The Wonder Boys'. However, this character is not a stereotypical teacher but a fantastically original creation emphasized by Douglas' winning performance. He smokes weed and lives with a student of his (Katie Holmes), he is in the midst of his third divorce and is in love with his married boss, Sara Gaskell (Frances McDormand), and that second novel is forever incomplete, and has been for seven years. One of his pupils is James Leer, played to perfection by Tobey Maguire, who writes amazingly obtuse stories and is obsessed with the death of film stars. James and Grady become partners in crime when they shoot Sara's blind dog and steal the coat Marilyn Monroe was married in. From here on in we are absorbed into the life of Grady and those around him, from his publisher terry Crabtree (Downey jr) to his writer rival, Q. we see lives slowly fall apart, relationships blossom, a novel disappear into the wind and a black dude who refuses to be called Vernon Hardapple, all in one weekend.

Wonder Boys never disappoints. It's dry humour and bizarre imagination never stops for a second, and we are glued with a grin on our faces. Hardly realistic, the audience can still feel for the characters as their lives spiral into a comic frenzy. Grady and his off-beat world crumbling around him as he searches for happiness; Terry, the flamboyant homosexual who puts on a brave face, believing in others as he searches for a comeback novel (which he will not get from Grady); James, the loner who needs to release the genius within himself. These are the wonder boys. Frances McDormand and Katie Holmes gladly take a back seat in the story as this film refuses to be weighed down by sap.

The acting is flawless, with at least two superb supporting roles. Robert Downey jr sparkles in his greatest role since Chaplin, but it is Tobey Maguire who makes us feel he has always been that awkward, deadpan student that is James Leer. For those who have seen Pleasantville and The Cider House Rules will recognise Maguire for the talant he is (it almost makes one feel he sold out when taking the Spider-Man role), and here he has been sadly overlooked for a Best Supporting Actor nomination. Douglas is in fine form as he always is in these strange and demanding roles, the last one being Falling Down. He can play a suicidal maniac and a stoned teacher and both roles will seem tailor made. The direction is impeccable as Hanson allows the characters to shine and the story flow, and it is almost unbelievable that this man directed the gritty, deadly serious L.A. Confidential. He packs Kloves screenplay with comic beauty and I sincerely hope he continues to direct these understated movies.

The big money-makers over the past few years have been either remakes, sequels or by-the-number churned out garbage and all these have one objective: to earn copious amounts of cash. Many of these film are successful in this aim but fail to capture one's imagination as Wonder Boys does so well. It is a shame to see the public throw there money at `Rocky and Bullwinkle' when it really should go to those who deserve it, those who still care about the art of motion picture. Anyone that will sit down to watch this will agree that it is a treasure to behold. A hidden treasure

Michael Douglas has always been one of my favorite actors. He deserved his Oscar for Wall Street, commanded every second of screen time he had in Falling Down, and has given some of the most underrated comic performances in history in Romancing the Stone and War of the Roses. But I'd have to give his performance in Wonder Boys as his best. His turn as stoner college professor Grady Tripp is the model for the laid back, totally likeable and loveable protaginist. He's the kind of professor I dream of having in real life.

After watching this movie, I seriously wanted to go and write a book. For any of you blocked writers out there, just pop in Wonder Boys and you have your muse.

I truly enjoyed this film. I went into the theater not knowing much about it; perhaps that had something to do with the reason I liked it so much. I found this film to be extremely witty and entertaining. I found myself intrigued by each character, especially the dark, mysterious James Leer (Tobey Maguire). It has been a while since I have sat in a theater merely enjoying a movie. The storyline was rather odd, but kept my interest. The students in the film had a quite casual relationship with their professors. All in all, I can say that each actor gave a wonderful performance; and if you are looking to see a film that upon leaving the theater will make you feel happy and disturbed, then this is the film.

Slowburning, lovely, comical portrait of Michael Douglas, playing a writer who realizes he is a one hit wonder, unable to write a successful sequel to his prize winning writer's debut.

Probably best suited for an arthouse audience and not for the masses who might mistakenly expect a straight comedy, which it is not. It has lots of tongue in cheek jokes though that are interwoven into a subtle, intelligent, slowburning story about writer's block.

Every human characteristic is handled with such exquisite delight that director Curtis Hanson must be praised for creating this delicious gem. Terrific, hilarious deadpan face acting by Tobey Maguire and Robert Downey Jr. Great soundtrack with contributions by Bob Dylan and Van Morrison.

Upbeat, intelligent story with some very delightful twists and turns. Seen it many times now and it is here to stay. Definitely feel good! Movies like this dont come along very often. What a gift!

What the Hell is going on here? "Wonder Boys" is one of the best movies of 2000, and I'd hardly heard of it before I rented it a month ago. When I subsequently researched it on IMDb I found that, while the critics loved it, it flopped at the box office. Why was that? Is it the producers, BBC, being not-for-profit, don't know how to market a movie? With "A Beautiful Mind", Ron Howard and DreamWorks have proved that small, well-crafted movies can bring in the patrons, lots of them...and the awards. "Wonder Boys" is in that class. Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey, Jr., and Frances McDormand all give solid performances. The story, a dark comedy, is well told and directed. There's no reason why this movie should not have been box office gold as well as Oscar gold. Whoever was responsible for promoting this movie, shame on you. Find another profession.

WONDER BOYS / (2000) ****

Starring: Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Katie Holmes, Robert Downey Jr., Rip Torn, and Richard Thomas Directed by Curtis Hanson. Written by Steve Kloves, based on the novel by Michael Chabon. Running time: 112 minutes. Rated R (for strong drug use and for language).

I have always dreamed of becoming a professional writer for a living. Curtis Hanson's new comic drama, "Wonder Boys," is as accurate and enriching to my opinions and hopes as any movie I have seen. This is a wonderful, inspiring motion picture--one of the years best. It is a movie that enlightens our culture and moves us passionately, while at the same time provides the audience with laughter and moral aspects. This is a great movie to start out the new year.

The film stars the extraordinary Michael Douglas as a college professor named Grady Tripp, who is around fifty years old. He has written an award winning novel, "Arsonist's Daughter," seven years ago. Since, however, his follow up is drifting and unfocused, wondering over 2,600 single spaced pages in length. Although he does not believe in it, everyone thinks he has writer's block.

There is an assortment of characters and events brilliantly portrayed within the film's setup, all surrounding Grady. His third wife recently left him, due to her loneliness. He is having an affair with the University's chancellor, Sara Gasket (Frances McDormand), who has become pregnant after several implied encounters and happens to be the wife of his boss, the chairman of the English department, Walter (Richard Thomas). A foreign, loony man, Vernon (Richard Knox), is furious over something to do with Tripp's automobile. His bisexual and antsy editor, Crabtree (Robert Downey Jr.), appearing with the company of a transvestite, desiring to take a look at Grady's long overdue writing piece, but uses the towns writer's conference as an ulterior motive. Also present, a high held writer named Q (Rip Torn), who raises the stress for Tripp, and two students of his, Hannah (Katie Holmes), who rents a room out of his house, and may even be willing to sleep with Grady, and his most brilliant author James Leer (Tobey Maguire), who bonds with him as the movie progresses.

A lot occurs in "Wonder Boys," and the plot is very labyrinthine, although it never becomes confused and always keeps its cool. The characters are perfectly defined and cast. Their intentions and motives are clear and developed with shape and gradual effectiveness. Curtis Hanson pays close attention to each separate character, giving them dimensional qualities, intelligence and depth.

Complications arise when several key events take place. There is a Monroe artifact stolen from the chancellor's closet and her pet dog ends up shot to death when James defends Grady who is being attacked. These occurrences lead to bondings between Grady Tripp and James, Heather and just about every other character in the film.

Heather says in one scene that Tripp's novel would be much better if he would lay off the marijuana usage. She is correct. Grady often lives under the influence, and this is just one of the ideas the film looks at, along with family dysfunction, adultery, abortions, theft, abuse, severe loss, and even violence. All these concepts apply to the morality of the movie.

The narrative through line enhances the story and characters thoroughly. Each scene propels the plot forward, either creating a new conflict or complicating a previous one. This film contains one of the most stolid structures I have seen all year. The conclusion of "Wonder Boys" is effectual and sums up everything in an apprehensive manor--and is of the same standards as its previous material. How rare is it to screen a movie when the finale is just as engaging as the overall story.

"Wonder Boys" contains dialogue that is decisive and smart. It has a wickedly witty mood, but is still beautifully written and portrayed. Improving the production is the moody atmosphere of a light thriller--and it still overlaps with comic travesty. Although the film is more conceptual than actual, and empowered with overtones rather than reflexive relief, the laughs are still frequent, the intrigue is constant and the statement is clear.

I also liked the film's visual style and cinematography. From the fitting soundtrack to the story's presentation, the atmospheres is absolutely mesmerizing from start to finish. Especially wonderful are the sequences in which it snows in the evening. The way the glistening white flakes drift gently down onto the ground from a peaceful and dark sky captures the characters emotional aspects is just stunning. Even the costuming, scenery, and tone are skillful.

Michael Douglas, known for characters more active than Grady Tripp, is utterly marvelous here. James writes in a page of his work that Grady, who was once capable for inspiring a world, is now unable to inspire himself. This painfully true scene in captured flawlessly by his Oscar worthy performance. As he, and the other earth shattering performers, entice the audience, we feel much emotion for these characters. So much that we do not realize it until the closing credits role past.

Brought to you by Paramount Pictures.

Wonder Boys (2000)

3.5/4

"She was a junkie for the printed word, and lucky for me, I was her manufacturer" - Earl Tripp.

It's difficult to explain the plot of "Wonder Boys" - in some ways, it reminds me of Martin Scorsese's masterpiece "After Hours" in that it follows a complex anti-hero over a chaotic and all-over-the-place narrative, instead of one. Earl Tripp (Michael Douglas) is a conflicted college English professor, whose wife has just left him, while he sets up for a new chapter. Over the course of two nights, he becomes involved in one of his student's lives, James (Tobey Maguire), and meets up with his old friend and struggling publisher Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey Jr.).

"Wonder Boys" is an interesting, dynamic and character-based motion picture, and the characterizations are very convincing. Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, and Robert Downey, Jr. Are superb as the main characters; Douglas especially gives a great vision of his own character.

It is a wonderful film. Funny, witty and intelligent are also perfect words to describe it. Director Curtis Hanson works with a great screenplay and superb performances. His directing style is refreshingly subtle and laid back, which creates a comfortable environment and cozy moments within the characters and the film. It's rich and entertaining filmmaking, just as Hanson's "L. A. Confidential" was. It is also odd and eccentric, containing some true treasures such as Rip Torn as a more successful novelist in which Douglas hates, and Downey playing a wild editor. Maguire works well with the rest of the cast, too, and everyone has chemistry. I found the experience of "Wonder Boys" enriching and entertaining.

The only flaw with the film is that it's a little uneven at parts, sometimes too long. But I think that it makes up for it with its superb moments.

A movie full of great, kooky characters and plot twists that will make you laugh and smile.

I think this is Michael Douglas' greatest role as he is not playing a tough guy with a hard on. He is playing a hapless middle aged guy who gets his shortcomings and is trying to do better.

A movie that will revive your belief in the good of people and in love.

Well worth a watch.

This is a writer's film. And that's why it did not score so well at the box office. Michealangelo said the sculpture was already in the marble, but he had to toil to bring it out.

Most people do not understand an the intricacies of the writing process. It rarely flows from a single draft. It can be a slow evolution and often a painful, tenuous process. If you are an author or ever struggled to creatively touch pen to paper, you know what this is about.

My favorite relatable moment is when the characters of Douglas, Doughney and McGuirer are trying to upgrading the profession of a fictional character to make him more intriguing. [Oh, that's better!]. The interest inflection is just what you would hear in a Writer's group or workshop.

In the same vain, these Homeric heros are on the same journey. Trying to upgrade themselves in the world, yet the angry fates forced to battle their way through their personal odysseys. The conflict and comedy comes from the fact that these characters, twisted together on this voyage remain clueless of the mess they made of themselves. To Find their way home, they must raise above those own flaws that they continually trip over.

This is a complex story, but if you were James Joyce, you would be laughing your head off. [However, most of us are not]. This is an Actor/Artist film. Too bad the film failed to reach the average audience.

Coming-of- age is not limited to the transition from adolescence to adulthood. A coming-of-age emotionally can occur at any time in one's life. Winner of the AFI award for Movie of the Year in 2001, Wonder Boys features a commanding performance by Michael Douglas as Grady Tripp, a once great novelist who is now a burned out, pot-smoking English Professor at a college in Pittsburgh. Tripp has been working on a massive novel that has grown to 2611 pages for the last seven years, but who has lost the inspiration to complete it.

Set on the college campus, Professor Tripp is not having a good day. His wife has just left him, his lover (Frances McDormand), wife of the University Chancellor (Richard Thomas), tells him that she's pregnant, his flamboyant gay editor Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey, Jr.) is coming from New York for the college's annual writer's festival, and one of his most promising students, James Leer (Tobey McGuire), a brilliant but suicidal young writer, has attached himself to Tripp.

Out of these many and varied crises comes a comedy of wit and intelligence that includes such bizarre circumstances as the theft of Marilyn Monroe's fur coat, the unfortunate demise of the Chancellor's dog, a stolen Cadillac, a novel blowing in the wind, and much more. These strange occurrences bring with them the opportunity for Tripp to reassess his life and discover what new directions are open to him. Wonder Boys is brilliantly written, funny, and touching and one of my favorite films of the last decade. It is one of the few films I know that are comfortable with smoking pot and having sex, both gay and straight, not as a manipulative plot device or a display of weakness, but as a part of normal, every day life.

In AO Scott's review he writes that-- ''Wonder Boys boasts a first-rate cast, a credible literary source and a director whose last film, L. A. Confidential, showed a prodigious ability to capture both the headlong rhythms of a complex plot and the particularities of a motley assortment of characters. With so much going for it, how could the movie be such a dud?" The answer? AO Scott's review is the dud, not the movie.

Scott continues: "Mr. Hanson, perhaps aiming for wry understatement, has smothered whatever antic rhythm the story might have had. Wonder Boys' is like a George Cukor movie with a bad head cold -- slow, muffled and vague."

The movie is not vague. That would be Scott's review. He cannot seem to figure out how to put the movie down. Only that he wants to. Saying it is like Cukor with a head cold is not a bad description of what makes the movie great.

Scott-- "The same three words might describe Mr. Douglas's performance. To be fair, he is playing a pothead, a merciful change of pace for an actor who typically performs as if he is coming off a three-day Viagra binge. But Mr. Douglas seems not to be enacting the hazy confusion that is Grady's dominant trait; he seems to have succumbed to it."

Douglas' Grady is not just tired, bewildered, and stoned. He also sees everything. Much like Hanson and the movie itself.

"His scenes with Ms. McDormand, whose character kick-starts the plot by telling Grady she is pregnant with his child, lack the erotic heat, the sense of longing, that might lend pathos to their predicament. You never quite shake the sense that you are watching movie actors freshly arrived in a strange city and awaiting further instructions."

Wonder Boys is the opposite of a movie where you feel like the actors just showed up and are awaiting instructions. Everyone, from Rip Torn to Richard Thomas, feels as if they have been living in this world for a long time.

"The theme of Wonder Boys -- as phony and conventional here as it was in the book -- is rescue."

The theme of Wonder Boys is not rescue. There are many themes, rescue is not one of them. Grady and James Leer are reflections of each other. They do not rescue each other so much as offer each other a chance to see themselves.

"Mr. Downey and Mr. Maguire, whose improvisatory, ironical acting styles seem to belong in a different movie, might have found some real chemistry, but they don't get much time together on screen. What occupies the screen is a well-intentioned muddle."

A. O. Scott's review is what is muddled. The performances all belong in the same movie.

"The problem with 'Wonder Boys is not that it's a bad movie, though if it had risked becoming one it might have been a lot more. The problem is that everyone involved seems to have agreed that it was a great idea for a movie and pretty much left it at that."

Flippant smugness was always Scott's biggest problem. Coupled with a conventional mind that didn't see much beneath the surface. His review of Wonder Boys helped bury what should be a universally acknowledged classic.

This 2000 Curtis Hanson film was the second best he made after L.A. Confidential and together with Bedroom Window. It is a story of two people of completely different background, a middle aged writing professor and his student and protégé. The professor, played by Michael Douglas in one of his strongest roles, is going thru a crisis and drinks a lot, after his younger wife has left him. He is also having problems finishing his second book. The young and bright but troubled protégé is played by Tobey Maguire. Then there is also Douglas' eccentric and flamboyant editor and friend played by the excellent Robert Downey Jr. A guy who is a swinger and according to Douglas "is gay, or thinks he is". Katie Holmes also appears as another of Douglas' students who is smitten with him but he rejects her advances.

There are also a few really amusing side characters, such as the man Douglas and Downey Jr. dub VERNON HARDAPPLE, who gives the movie a comical edge. The whole movie is somewhat of a dark comedy really, with scenes like the one where Maguire kills a dog who attacked Douglas and Douglas has to keep his body in the trunk of his car for a week or at the end where the manuscript for his latest book flies away. When he's asked by Downey Jr if he has a copy, he replies "I have an alternative ending of the second chapter".

This is what is so enjoyable with this movie: not only is it a character study drama but also a humorous oddball comedy with some exciting plot twists. In the end the roles are almost switched as Douglas the mentor starts to learn from Maguire the protégé and discovers that he has talent. This also helps him revitalize his own talent and get his life back on track. Frances McDormand also appears as Douglas' love interest who is also the chancellor of the university where he works and is pregnant with his child. Really enjoyable and trippy film, a semi-classic. Hanson once again hit bullseye with this.

I gave this a 9 of 10 because the soundtrack is just incredible. Bob Dylan's Oscar song "Things Have Changed" and others, Tom Rush, Junior Walker and the All Stars, Clarence Carter's "Slip Away", Buffalo Springfield, Tim Hardin, John Lennon, Neil Young, and Leonard Cohen, to name a few. Not just that the tunes included are so great, they are, but what makes them great is how they are used seamlessly in the support of the movie to the point that you almost forget they are playing.

The story is good, tight, goofy, wry, poignant, and often funny. And an object lesson that even when all the wrong choices have been made, there is always time to make right ones, and that makes all the difference. Cast is, as many have said, luminous.

Well and tightly written, great performances, editing, and photography, even the weather gods seem to have given their best to this gem.

But it is not for everyone.

It is the anti-box office movie. And thank goodness for it!

I must say, this is certainly a hidden gem. Whenever I mention "Wonder Boys" to my friends, they look at me as if I'd just recommended watching some made-for-TV Disney film (which, given the title, okay, I see where they're coming from).

THIS is brilliant!!! So off-color! I absolutely adore quirky films like this. Yes, the kind of film that less than twenty people have actually heard of, and that less than ten actually saw. So pleased to see Tobey Maguire in this film...NOT playing his typical quiet-boy-meets-girl-out-of-his-league, as he has obviously mastered in nearly every other film of his. Brilliant, detached (as you'll probably read in the other comments), although I think that, from what I've heard about acting, it would be harder to play a role so withdrawn and mysterious. You can't give anything, even when you have gifted performers like Michael Douglas and Robert Downey Jr. just letting it loose.

And speaking of Robert Downey Jr.--can we say "crack up?" Anybody who is a Downey fan will love this. Even if you've never heard of Downey (he's Ironman, for those of you who have yet to see Chaplin), you'll like him in this film. Or hate him. Give or take.

Very, very quirky. And funny. Most people who only glance at this film on the shelf mistake it for some disturbing or nondescript drama. No, it is definitely a comedy, and a hysterical one at that.

This film has much to recommend. The story was interesting from the onset and Michael Douglas gives an exceptional performance as an eccentric professor who questions the things he thought mattered to him. Downey Jr. is also excellent as his wacky editor. Maguire seems to have approached his character much the same he did his role in the Cider House Rules. He's a genius, again, and he deadpans a lot, again, except this time he's a compulsive liar. The female characters aren't really developed too much. But then this isn't their movie, it is the Wonder Boys.' 9/10.

Roger Ebert in effect called this movie a screwball movie slowed down to real life time, and I'd have to agree. Thought of out of context, some of the plot elements are just over the top, but the director and actors put a veneer or reality over the wackiness, which works surprisingly well. Michael Douglas and Robert Downey Jr are great in particular. The tone is pitch-perfect for the first two-thirds, but in the last third some of the "realism" I praised earlier begins to lag and some scenes feel somewhat over the top. Still, overall it's a refreshing movie with unique characters -- highly recommended. 8.5/10.

Michael Douglas gives one of his best performances to date as a University teacher having a mid-life crisis of sorts in this extremely well done film from LA Confidential director Curtis Hanson. During the course of a weekend Douglas has to deal with his wife who just left him, his girlfriend (Francis McDormand) who's pregnant, an editor (Robert Downey Jr.) who wants to see his new 2000 page book, a dead dog, and a flirtatious student (Katie Holmes). But that's not all. Toby Maguire gives a wonderful performance as a complex student who is just as confused with life as Douglas, if not more. Wonder Boys was released back in February but then postponed from video, while it was re-released back in theatres in hopes of catching the Academy's attention. Unfortunately the Academy was to stupid to know what a good film was and passed it up. But perhaps it is for the best. For Wonder Boys seems like the kind of film that works best on video. Its not a Roman epic, its not based on a true story, and its not the feel good movie of the year. What it is is a smart, funny, well written, down to earth story about a man struggling with life's problems and trying to find himself in the process. NOTE: features a great soundtrack with new recordings from Bob Dylan.

This movie has everything anyone could ever want. I sum it up with four words: it is screwed up. The entertainment keeps on coming, not once does this film become boring. That is mostly due to the perfermances by Douglas and McGuire. The storyline, however improbable, is fantastically done in Chabon's novel and in this movie. After one gets done watching this movie, they can only wish that their life had that much 'stuff' in it - that it could be that action-packed. Perhaps that action is a little negative for the characters, but for the viewers, it is fanatstic.

Instead of a dreary film full of characters no one could like, doing nothing anyone could support, this film is about characters confronting their dreary, self-destructive lives, and (in varying degrees) overcoming them. "American Beauty" tried to make the absurdity and loneliness of the modern human condition into a reason to love our pain. That was poppycock, but there were so many disaffected stereotypes in that film that everyone was sure to identify with someone, unless they were well-adjusted or happy. That kind of thing sells, I guess. Here, the characters have less extreme problems, and are none of them so one-dimensional. We see professors and students, dealing with recognizably real problems and doing so in ways that are feasible, if not commonplace. They don't solve all of them, but they end up mostly better off, and do so by admitting they aren't all perfect. Along the way, it's pretty funny, when it wants to be. My only gripe is that the main character solves his commitment issues at the cost of an off-screen character who, if made visible, would have been a sympathetic victim of his solution. But, sometimes life is like that, which is something you can't say about "American Beauty."

I knew nothing more about this film than what was written on the cover - which wasn't much.

What drew me to this choice over all the others that late night at Blockbuster were two things: (1) It wasn't on the bottom shelf and (2) the cast was too good to pass up.

This is one of the more enjoyable films I've seen in a long while. Why? Each character has their own small story, which they are working through. Sometimes together, sometimes not. But in the hands of great actors, having a clear arc of their character amplifies the richness of their performances and nourishes nuance.

Michael Douglas was tremendous in this sense as Grady Tripp, a one-hit wonder hacking away at another novel while teaching at Pennsylvania college.

If stereotyped, Professor Tripp would simply been played a pathetic creature - a man who has chosen not to make choices only to find the cumulative consequences of his inaction overwhelming.

But Mr. Douglas adds a lot of depth, intelligence and natural humor to the professor. What was brilliant, was how Douglas used such humor, sarcasm or even pity to free his character to transcend and transform throughout the film.

In a way, I found Tripp to be Zen-like. He tried to be the water not the rock. As a result, he was the one who usually ended up getting wet.

The rest of the cast is great. Good film.