| | | Undependable. Unpredictable. Unforgettable.
Features: DVD, Widescreen, Dolby, Digital Audio, English, Dolby Digital (5.1), Dolby Surround Sound
Michael Douglas plays the author of a wildly successful novel who is trying to write another but is struggling with the success of his past and the weight of his future.
"Pure pleasure! The laughs come tumbling out..." David Ansen, Newsweek
"A comic dazzler!" Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
Editor's Note
In Curtis Hanson's WONDER BOYS, based on the novel by Michael Chabon, Michael Douglas delivers one of his most compelling performances as Grady Tripp, a disheveled, perpetually adolescent English professor amiably coasting toward a midlife crisis. On the inaugural day of his university's literary festival, Grady's third wife leaves him, and his mistress, university chancellor Sara Gaskell (Frances McDormand), announces that she's pregnant with their child. To further complicate matters, Grady's reckless editor, Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey Jr.), desperate to revive his flaccid career, arrives to pick up Grady's far-from-finished seven-years-in-the-making follow-up to his critically acclaimed first book. As if that weren't enough to keep him reeling, Grady soon becomes an unwilling accomplice to a canine homicide and the heist of a rare jacket once worn by Marilyn Monroe, both committed by his brightest student--the languid, slightly pathological James Leer (Tobey Maguire). Dressed in a ratty pink bathrobe and driving a stolen car with a dead dog in the trunk, Grady must now find a way to return Marilyn's coat, write the great American novel, nurture James's literary talents, discourage the advances of an amorous coed (Katie Holmes), avoid the wrath of a tiny James Brown look-alike (Richard Knox), and reconcile with Sara...all before the weekend is over.
Plot Summary
Curtis Hanson directs this comedic coming-of-middle-age tale about Professor Grady Tripp, a man with a lot on his mind. His wife, Emily, has just left him. His mistress, Sara Gaskel, is pregnant. His beautiful young boarder, Hannah Green, has the hots for him. His quirky writing student, James Leer, wants to be him. And his editor, Terry Crabtree, has been desperately waiting for the follow-up to his extremely successful first novel for seven years. Throw a transvestite, a dead dog, stolen Marilyn Monroe memorabilia, and an irate James Brown look-alike into the mix and Grady's anxiety is understandable. As his worlds collide during Wordfest, a literary festival held at the university, Grady embarks on a seemingly endless weekend full of mistakes and mix-ups that ultimately lead him to self-discovery. A stellar cast--with standout performances from Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, and Robert Downey Jr.--brings this poignant story to life. Hanson tells the tale simply and effectively, with many scenes silent of background noise or music, trusting the audience to concentrate instead on the brilliant acting and writing.
| Features | Scene Selection | | Dolby Digital French Dolby Surround | | English Subtitles | | Dynamic Interactive Motion Menus | | Music Video-Bob Dylan's Things Have Changed | | Widescreen Version Enhanced for 16:9 TVs | | Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround | | Exlcusive Cast and Crew Interviews | | Location Map with Explanations by Curtis Hanson | | The Singer/Songwriters of Wonder Boys with direct access to commentaries by Curtis Hanson |
| Technical Info
|
Release Information
| | Studio: Paramount |
| Release Date: 8/22/2006 |
| Running Time: 112 minutes |
| Original Release Date: 2000 | | Catalog ID: 332614 | | UPC: 00097363326144 | | Number of Discs: 1 |
Audio & Video
| | Original Language: English | | Available Audio Tracks: English | | Video: Color |
| Cast & Crew
| Awards |
Academy Awards (2000) |  | Bob Dylan, Winner, Best Original Song |
| Memorable Quotes| "I wish you hadn't shot my girlfriend's dog...."----Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) to James Leer (Tobey Maguire) | | "I can't believe you made fun of my bathrobe."----Grady |
|
| | Professional Reviews | Variety
"...Witty and sophisticated....A gratifying entertainment of leisurely elegance and delicious nastiness..." 2/21-27/2000 p.36-8Rolling Stone
"Michael Douglas digs deep and delivers one of the best performances in WONDER BOYS--a comic dazzler of roguish wit and touching gravity..." 03/16/2000 p.81-2 Entertainment Weekly
Ranked #8 in Entertainment Weekly's "Lisa Schwarzbaum's BEST MOVIES OF 2000" 12/22/2000 pp.106-17 Box Office
"...WONDER BOYS is an intelligent movie about real people. It has serious points to make but makes them in a witty and engaging way. What more could you ask?..." -- 4 out of 5 stars 04/01/2000 p.247 Los Angeles Times
"...The film's Pittsburgh settings gleam like an eccentric urban fantasy. Hanson has also orchestrated uniformly excellent performances from his cast..." 02/23/2001 p.F1 Chicago Sun-Times
"...The movie is an unsprung screwball comedy, slowed down to real-life speed....This is a funny and touching story..." 02/23/2000 p.38 Empire
3 stars out of 5 -- "Tobey Maguire shakes it up as the erratic student....A lot of smart dialogue is delivered by pros..." 02/01/2009 Salon.com 8 of 10
With a cast this terriffic and a story this rich and wry, Wonder Boys really can't miss... Douglas' Grady...represents one of the actor's finest performances... [Hanson] and cinematographer Dante Spinotti capture both Pittsburgh and the netherworld of boho academia with brilliant precision... - Andrew O'Hehir
San Francisco Examiner 9 of 10
[Douglas] uses resources we didn't know he had--true befuddled sadness, vulnerability--to give the beleaguered soul at the center of Wonder Boys an even temper that burns so slow you can hear wood crackle behind his silences... there's never been a more vivid postcard of Pittsburgh... [the movie] includes so many grace notes, it's practically cacophonous. - Wesley Morris
|
| |
|
|
|
