Wonder Boys

Wonder Boys – 2000. Screenplay by Steven Kloves based on the novel by Michael Chabon. Directed by Curtis Hanson. Stars Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr and Katie Holmes

Wonder Boys tells the story of author/English professor Grady Tripp whose life is falling apart. His wife has left him (backstory/catalyst), his latest novel is years behind schedule, he's in love with his boss' wife and he ends up looking after a talented but strange (aren't they always) student for a weekend. Hilarity ensues. There's more of a plot than that but it's not where the worth of the movie rests.

The most disturbing thing about Wonder Boys is that although it presents some evidence to the contrary, it really does come down on the side of good writing getting produced by once-in-a-generation talents and idiot savants. Sure, us hacks might be popular and we may approach greatness but really good writing has to come from emotional wrecks and disassociated but gifted youth. That stuff sucks but overall the movie has some interesting things to say about writing, writers and the industry. At times it feels like a sitcom - you know how the plot's going to play out and where the characters will end up - but that's okay here because it's a fun ride. Wonder Boys is a movie where the joys are in the small things - the character interactions, the wry dialogue and the absurdity of the whole situation, which comes to the surface regularly.

It took me a few viewings to realise the movie is a character comedy, and is best enjoyed as such. The acting is good, the dialogue is sharp. Michael Douglas is superb. Worth a look.

Plot writing quotient: 5/5
Feel-good writing rating: 4/5

Cool writing quote:

Oola: So what was it about? Your book. What was the story?

Grady:  I don't know.

Crabtree: What he means is... it's difficult to distil the essence of a book sometimes... because it lives in the mind.

Vernon: But you got to know what it was about, right? If you didn't know what it was about, why were you writing it?

Grady: I couldn't stop.