Katie Holmes in Wonder Boys (2000)
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Review
Wonder Boys is the story of a 50ish novelist whose second novel has been in progress for seven years. It's 2600 pages long, and he's nowhere near an ending. His life is going about the same. The focus of the film is a long weekend which includes a writer's conference, a visit from his editor, and some adventures with a brilliant student.
It's a comedy - a very strange one, the kind usually called "offbeat" by the writers, and it involves guys stealing their own cars back, various unusual sex/love combinations, and dead animals in the trunk which are later used to fill out a guy's bed in order to fool his mom into thinking he's there.
The characters, right down to the cameos, are all unusual and quirky, yet remarkable human and familiar when reined in by the massive talent of director Curtis Hanson (L.A. Confidential), and such acting luminaries as Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Junior, and Michael Douglas. Douglas gets away from his stock arrogant businessmen and cocky detectives to play the lead, a stumbling English professor with no direction in his life or his work.
The film is about the progress he makes toward getting back to what once made him a Wonder Boy. It is very much like a quirky independent film, except that it was made by top talents with a $35 million budget.
Unfortunately, it never really found an audience, lost money. These factors will not make the studios likely to pour so much money into such a personal film in the future.
Katie Holmes is also one of the leads, mercifully freed from the obligation to do that "Blanche DuBois with an attitude" that she had to do in The Gift. You'll be surprised by what a top-notch job she does here when given a character more suited to her, the film's most anchored role of a thoughtful, intelligent and very real student with whom Douglas has a brief relationship.
Nudity Report: None
Critics Vote: 3.5 stars. Roger Ebert 4/4, Berardinelli 3/4, Apollo 83/100.
IMDB Summary: 7.7 out of 10
Box Office: A noble failure. A $35 milion budget, but only $19 million in domestic revenues. This is the same type of movie, with the same type of box office performance, that Robert Altman and Woody Allen make. But they hold the costs down and make them profitable.
DVD Info: Widescreen 2.35:1, well-filmed, good transfer. the extras are disappointing for such a highly-regarded film: there are a few cast and crew interviews, a spotlight on the music, and a spotlight on the Pittsburgh locations. Yawn.
Written by: Scoopy …Scoopy.net