WONDER BOYS – Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire
Wonder Boys (2000)
Director: Curtis Hanson
Screenplay: Steve Kloves, from Michael Chabon’s novel
Cast: Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, Rip Torn, Richard Thomas, Michael Cavadias, George Grizzard
SCREWBALL REDUX
A brilliant young writer (Tobey Maguire) who happens to be both a pathological liar (probably not a coincidence) and obsessed with celebrity suicides. A flamboyant bisexual literary editor (Robert Downey Jr.) who can’t tell the difference between a ten-feet-tall transvestite and a woman. A pothead English professor (Michael Douglas) with so little sense of ethics that he has the gall to be upset when his wife leaves him, even though he has been having an affair with his boss’ wife.
Add to that mix a pompous successful writer, an irascible "car robber" and his ditzy girlfriend, a ferocious blind dog, and Marilyn Monroe’s worn-out jacket, and we have the recipe for a delightful — and potentially enlightening — screwball comedy. The trouble is that Gregory La Cava’s or Leo McCarey’s touch is nowhere to be found in Wonder Boys.
After trying his hand at film noir with the so-so (but widely praised) L.A. Confidential, director Curtis Hanson opted to tackle that other classic Hollywood genre in this adaptation of Michael Chabon’s novel. The ingredients are all there, but missing is the spirit of those wacky comedies of yore.
In Wonder Boys, everyone tries extremely hard to be quirky and funny — and it shows. In fact, one can almost see Hanson’s heavy hand in every supposedly funny sequence and his even heavier fist in the dramatic moments. Sure, they also tried extremely hard back in the 1930s, but the effort put into My Man Godfrey and Bringing Up Baby was invisible on screen. That is why those comedies worked — and still do — and that is why Wonder Boys doesn’t quite click despite its stellar cast and first-rate production values.
Either Cary Grant or William Powell could have turned Michael Douglas’ basically unsympathetic pothead into a hilarious character, but Douglas, of course, is neither Cary Grant nor William Powell. Compounding matters, he gets little help from most cast members, with the exception of Michael Cavadias‘ Miss Antonia Sloviak, a transvestite whose moment of truth — when Miss Antonia removes her wig, you know the party is over — is the highlight of the film. (Miss Antonia also earned my sympathy for being the film’s only character who mourns the blind dog’s death.)
Ultimately, Wonder Boys left me yearning for what it might have been: A funny, poignant, madcap comedy. How about a (really funny) remake, ten years from now?
Academy Award Win
Best Song: "Things Have Changed” by Bob Dylan
Academy Award Nominations
Best Adapted Screenplay: Steve Kloves
Best Editing: Dede Allen
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Tags: Curtis Hanson, Film Reviews, Frances McDormand, Gay Interest, Katie Holmes, Michael Douglas, Oscar 2000, Oscar Movies, Robert Downey Jr, Steven Kloves, Tobey Maguire, Wonder Boys
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