Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #11573 in DVD
• Released on: 2001-09-03
• Rating: Suitable for 15 years and over
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: PAL
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 108 minutes

Amazon.co.uk Review
Wonder Boys is one of those films in which more twists and turns disrupt the life of the hero in one weekend than would bother most of us our whole lives. Professor Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is an aging one-novel wunderkind at a small Pittsburgh college who's labouring on his seven-years-in-the-making, 2000-plus-page second opus with no end in sight. The morning of the college's literary Glastonbury, WordFest, Grady's wife leaves him; that evening, his mistress (Frances McDormand) announces she's pregnant (she's also the Chancellor of the school, as well as the wife of Grady's boss). Grady's voracious editor (Robert Downey Jr) is also in town, transvestite date in tow, determined to read the highly anticipated new book; there's also the nubile student (Katie Holmes), who seems more than willing to ease Grady's pain. And then there's James Leer (Tobey Maguire), the mordant and brilliant writing student who's the catalyst for Grady's lost weekend, which involves a soon-to-be-dead blind dog, a stolen car and the jacket that Marilyn Monroe wore when she wed Joe DiMaggio.

The writing and acting in this film is superb. Douglas, by turns dryly sarcastic and sincerely heartfelt , single-handedly makes up for years of alpha-male posturing as the passive pothead Tripp, and whoever thought of pairing him with the resilient McDormand is brilliant--they convey the complexities and history of their relationship in a single glance or movement. The rest of the cast also are exceptional, with Maguire in a breakthrough performance and Downey at his manic best. The ending may feel a little too pat, but after everything these characters have been through, it seems a just reward. --Mark Englehart, Amazon.com

Special Features
English
Region 2

Synopsis
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.

Customer Reviews

Brilliant cast, great dialogue
Sometimes an excellent film just manages to slip unnoticed through the theatres, as box-office hits such as Pearl Harbor get (undeservedly) all the movie-goers' attention. Wonder Boys is one of those movies. It is a brilliant story based on the life of one English professor who happens to face a streak of bad luck in his relationships and career.

The movie is very funny, but not in a underlined way like some examples of the recent wave of idiot comedies. Instead, it provides the actors with great witty dialogue, which they take full advantage of. Especially Douglas shines, clearly enjoying being a scruffy oddball, after being cast as a slick villain in so many movies.

One of my favorites from last year!

Quite possibly my favourite film ever.
This is one of the most underrated films released in the last few years and is possibly my favourite film ever. It's one of those films that you can watch over and over, each time finding a new meaning to a line of dialogue, a new depth to a character's motivation, and a new comic gem that you hadn't noticed the first time.

The film is, by turns, heartbreakingly sad, stunningly beautiful, painfully realistic, and finally optimistic and reassuring. It is, also, hilariously funny in an offbeat and subtle way. Look out especially for Vernon The Car-Jumping Maniac.

Every performance is outstanding and why there weren't any Oscars awarded is beyond me. Michael Douglas is shamelessly open and personal in an intense role; Tobey Maguire is brilliant and shows why he will be one of the major stars of his generation; Robert Downey Jr is as always electrifying and hilarious; and Katie Holmes' character is developed to just the right amount, a peripheral character who is confident, sexual, yearning to be recognised by her literary idol and yet disappointed by his failures.

This is a deep and searching film that conveys the idea that everyone should be true to themselves, resist outside pressures and look inside themselves for inspiration.

If you're looking for a fast-action film then this isn't for you; similarly if you are looking for a clear-cut, plot driven film then you may not enjoy this. But if you're open to the type of film which takes you on an emotional tour-de-force that is extremely satisfying, then give this a try. And if you don't fully appreciate it on the first viewing, as I didn't, you might want to try it again.

Fantastic direction, flawless acting
Another classic from the director who shot LA Confidential this time bringing out the best performances from both Douglas and Tobey Maguire. The film really shines as an character study focusing on the messed up life of Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) and how his interaction with the other characters in the story help him to understand the relationship that develops with his mistress (Frances McDormand). Maguire simply shines in another performance which easily matches that of 'The cider house rules'. Quite simply a film made for grown ups!