# Wonder Boys (2000)

### reviewed by
bob bloom

Wonder Boys (2000) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand and Robert Downey Jr. Written by Steven Kloves. Directed by Curtis Hanson.

It's the weekend from hell for Grady Tripp.

The English professor, who teaches a writing workshop, begins his day with the knowledge that his wife has left him.

     From there it is all down hill.

His book editor is flying in from New York for the weekend to check on the progress of Grade's novel, one on which he has been working for nearly seven years and - at 1,262 pages - is not yet complete.

He is informed by his lover, Sara, the chancellor of the university, that she is pregnant.

And his best student, James Leer, shoots and kills the pet dog belonging to Sara's husband, Walter. On top of that James steals Walter's most prized possession, the jacket worn by Marilyn Monroe the day she married Joe DiMaggio.

Plus, some nut case is stalking Grady, claiming that the professor's car - given to him in lieu of money owed - is actually a stolen vehicle.

If all this sounds like the makings of some depressing melodrama, you couldn't be more wrong.

"The Wonder Boys" is a intelligent, witty, adult comedy, the first really memorable movie of the year.

It features fine acting, interesting characters and a literate script.

The cast is headed by Michael Douglas as Grady Tripp. He's a sort of throwback to the ‘60s, a disheveled, pot-smoking professor, self-centered, to some extent unfeeling and uncaring about how he treats others.

Douglas smoothly captures the writer's knack for self-involvement. While Grady is an intelligent man, he is seems to blithely go through life unaware of how his actions, intentionally or unintentionally, hurt others.

It is Douglas' best performance in years.

Tobey Maguire plays James Leer, Grady's prize student, a young man living in a continuous state of depression who turns out to be a brilliant writer and whose outward appearance and mannerisms hide a sensitive soul.

Maguire's James seems to be a pathological liar, but in reality is a young man who has created his own fantasy world in order to cope.

Maguire, as he did in "The Cider House Rules" and "Pleasantville," demonstrates why he is one of the best young actors to emerge on the screen in the past couple of years.

Oscar-winner Frances McDormand is vulnerable, yet determined as Sara, who - though she loves Grady - decides to forge her own future with or without him.

Robert Downey Jr. gives a sly, charming performance as Terry Crabtree, Grady's exasperated book editor. Terry had made his reputation by bringing Grady's first novel, which was eventually an award-winning work, to his publishing house, and is desperate for his friend's follow-up in order to restore his reputation and retain his position.

The script by Steven Kloves ("The Fabulous Baker Boys") is sophisticated and deftly captures the cadence of milieu of academia and the book world.

The wit is clever, the situations - though exaggerated - seem true to life.

Director Curtis Hanson, in his first outing since his critically acclaimed "L.A. Confidential," keeps the proceedings moving at a steady pace. There is no dead space in "Wonder Boys," as Grady jerkily progresses from one crisis to another without missing a beat.

Life is messy, appears to be the movie's message, and we do what we can to sort through the clutter and make the best of what we have and what is offered to us.

"Wonder Boys," though, is no messy movie. It is a heartfelt, somewhat dark, but ultimately uplifting character study of one man trying to rediscover his true self.

Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at bloom@journal-courier.com or at bobbloom@iquest.net

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