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Capone takes a look at Curtis Hanson's WONDER BOYS
Hey folks, Harry here with our man in Chi-Town, Capone chiming in on Curtis Hanson's follow up film to L.A. CONFIDENTIAL... although in a completely different genre. This is the film that will signal whether or not L.A. CONFIDENTIAL was a hiccup or the rebirth of a startling career. There are some spoilers below in Capone's review... but.. not too many, besides, it really sounds wonderful..
Hey, Harry. Capone in Chicago here, and I'm on a press-screening roll. I
sat in with some the Windy City's finest and smelliest critics last Friday
for a look at Curtis Hanson's WONDER BOYS. I saw some early-cut reviews on
your site a few months ago, but this was definitely the final edit.It's good to see Michael Douglas back at the top of his game. I didn't
realize how much I'd missed him until I saw WONDER BOYS, a strange but
highly watchable dramatic comedy about what and who it takes to survive a
mid-life crisis. In his first role since A PERFECT MURDER, Douglas remembers
what it is to create a fully realized character in Grady Tripp, a professor
and author who has been struggling for about five years with writer's block
after a highly successful first novel. After a succession of failed
marriages, his latest romantic interest rests in the his university's
chancellor (Frances McDormand), who just happens to be married to Grady's
boss (played very well by John Boy Walton himself, Richard Thomas). In one
of the film's early scenes at a cocktail reception, McDormand (who does a
lot with a somewhat underwritten role) announces that she is pregnant with
Grady's child. Not surprisingly, he doesn't respond how she'd like and he
end up screwing up the last positive thing in his life. I should say at this
point that you've never scene Michael Douglas look or act like he does in
WONDER BOYS. He looks horrible. His hair is a mess, his jowls look extra
saggy, he wears his eye glasses on the edge of his nose, he has
anxiety-related fainting spells, and more often than not he dressed in a
pink robe. This in no glamour role for him; he is not the hero or the
so-bad-he's-good predator. He's a miserable guy with not a lot going right
for him. Things start to change when he gets to know one of the students in
his writing class, played against type by Tobey Maguire. He's an
introverted, dark and bizarre kid who says he lives at the bus station
because he got kicked out of his apartment. The film doesn't have a story so
much as a series of small adventures shared by the older and younger
writers. They involve a dead dog in the trunk of Douglas' car, the jacket
Marilyn Monroe wore at her wedding, a 1600-plus-page novel, and lots and
lots of weed. Also thrown into the mix are Robert Downey Jr., very funny in
the role of Grady's editor, and "Dawson's Creek"'s Katie Holmes as another
writing student that rents a room from Grady and half-heartedly attempts to
seduce him. Despite the top-notch talent here, WONDER BOYS has the intimacy
of a small film. Not much actually happens; there are no exotic locales or
designer clothes. There are several small mysteries about some of the
characters that are cleverly revealed by the end, but there's no high drama,
no deep-dark secrets that only a sexy psychiatrist can uncover. What we're
given are a series of quirky but believable set backs and let downs followed
by an interesting and (dare I say) uplifting payoff. The director is Curtis
Hanson, who did such an amazing and stylized take on L.A. CONFIDENTIAL a
couple years ago. WONDER BOYS couldn't be more different that new noir
masterpiece, but it's just as satisfying. Don't go in thinking WONDER BOYS
is going to rock your world or get your blood pumping, but it does get you
thinking good thoughts.
Capone
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I have no interest in seeing it.
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I never really though much of Curtis Hanson until he blew me out of the water with LA Confidential, which has got to be one of the best films of the last decade. The more I hear about this movie, the more I'm looking forward to it. I don't know what life-altering experience happened to the guy, but it seems he really has moved on to a whole new level of film-making. And before that obnoxious clerk 00 guy gets in here (as he has in every other Talkback today) and starts bashing Harry, I just wanted to say: Chin up, big guy. If I had just returned from 8 jet-lagged days of floating around Central America, I probably would have done some dumb things too. But I still love the site; after all, I'm not going to see a giant redhead running around in a Tigger suit at Corona,now am I?
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I love it when he plays earthy, downtrodden characters, the ones that are the exact opposite of his BASIC INSTINCT/DISCLOSURE roles, where he always goes to bed with some big-breasted girl half his age- um, wait a minute...
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is such an excellent author...Mysteries of Pittsburgh is his first and it's like a lazy day of Darvon and Esgic, with a Soma chaser...a soothing summer novel about neurotic young men and life after college..Wonder Boys should be great considering the talent involved. Although the trailer has an ugly spot--When michael Douglas says "...but he didn't have to take two to the chest." That wasn't funny, it isn't hip. But one badly written line shouldn't destroy this film. Curtis Hanson is on his game...and who doesn't love Douglas...but is anyone else tired of seeing Toby Mcguire? I enjoyed him in Ice Storm and Deconstructing Harry. Ride With the Devil was dissapointing... He's getting exposure beacoup
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What has Michael Douglas been doing for the past five years? He's been stinking. That's why this film is so refreshing. He is thoughtful, intense, and deeply moving as a character that is so not "Michael Douglas"! Take a hint, Mike... stay away from the movies about rich assholes!
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Has anybody else noticed that Michael Douglas looks just like Sally Jessie (sp?) Raphael in the Wonder Boys poster?
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Feb 15, 2000 11:52:53 PM CST
If I didn't know this film was done by the director of L.A. CONF
by el duderino
But since I know that, I guess I'm gonna check it out come its release day.
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Has anyone else read this book? It is very well-written and even strangley moving. However, I have to take exception to Michael Douglas as Grady Tripp. The way he is described in the book, I almost picture someone heavier by far. Robert Downey has some great material to work with, however, and should be excellent. Just wanted to know if there were any other Chabon fans out there who agree or not.
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It sounds like Mr. Douglas is sinking his teeth into real roles again. I know Schumacher takes a (well deserved) beating on this site but I think everyone will agree that the out of work engineer Douglas played in Falling Down was an awsome performance.
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Curtis Hanson has been a worthwile filmmaker for a long time. Go ahead...Knock 'A River Wild', 'Bad Influence' (Much better than at least 75% of the sexy-cool-psychopath-who-befriends-a-geek movies out there) and 'The Hand that Rocks The Cradle'. All these films would have been downright unwatchable (espcially 'River Wild')if Hanson didn't have a hand in directing them. Admittedly, they're schlock. They're popcorn movies but, damn, if they're not guilty pleasures. True, Hanson may have been a so-called hired gun at one point but, unlike Shumacher, the man is reliable. He knows how to craft and pace a movie. Shumacher is lucky if he can keep a movie's tone from shifting after the first 15 minutes. As for why 'Falling Down' was respectable and, honestly, so was 'Cousins'...The answer is very simple: Even the sun shines on a dog's ass some days (if you know what I mean).
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man oh man--l.a. confidential credentials and the incomparable katie holmes on one hand; tobey stinking macguire and geriatric michael douglas on the other.....well, mcdormand is great, so i guess that puts it over the top--it ought to be worth a look at the dollar movie!
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I think it was Moriarty who said that the poster for "Wonder Boys" looks like a pic of Benny Hill and I have to agree. When I first started seeing it in theatres I couldn't believe that any studio (much less Micheal himself) would okay it. It certainly isn't gonna help put asses in seats. Of course a good poster won't help a movie that much. Remember how cool the poster for "Iron Giant" was? Anyway, the trailer for "Wonder Boys" looks interesting and I'm looking forward to seeing it. I hope it'll be better than Micheal's dad Kirk's new movie "Diamonds." I saw that opening weekend and it was a big disappointment.
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Warranted or not, it sounds as though this film may invite a lot of comparisons to American Beauty. Mid life crisis of a seeming underachiever; Bonding with teenagers...smoking weed and maybe being seduced by the seduce-worthy Katie Holmes. I'm sure that the movie is entirely different (and it sounds great btw)...but the surface similarities are hard to miss. And Wes Bentley has always struck me as Tobey Maguire's evil twin.
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