director: Curtis Hanson
There is a scene in WONDER BOYS where Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) goes to visit his soon to be ex-wife’s family. She has just left him and isn’t likely to return. He stumbles, as the eternal outsider, into this family home. The girl’s parents, not much older than Grady is, treat him distantly, but politely. Grady takes a tour of his wife’s old room. It has remained the same since she left. There is a pair of ballerina slippers, a teddy bear, white, cloth material, a personal computer. Grady looks around the room as if seeing it for the first time. This scene tell us:
This is a wonderful subtle moment that knows how not to overstate.
Subtle and understated are two words one does not usually expect to hear describing a Hollywood movie. Jerry Bruckheimer probably doesn’t even know what the word means. Fortunately, and surprisingly, Curtis Hanson does.
Much could have been played for broad and easy laughs in WONDER BOYS. Grady’s editor (Robert Downey Jr.) seeks out bizarre sex tricks like transvestites. The Chair of the English Department has an aggressive, blind dog named Poe. There is a troubled youth (Tobey Maguire) who seems to make everything up on the spot. A guest writer (Rip Torn), “Q to his friends,” is the definement of pomposity. Even Grady is not above being characterized in what seems to be a gross stereotype. He is often stoned, using class as a fill in between smoking pot and having an affair with the Chair’s wife.
The film could have gone for the easy guffaw. One almost expects it to when the plot synopsis is read. But, WONDER BOYS is smarter than that. It keeps things simple, almost real. Even the outlandish elements seem to fit the overall film. Of course, the film argues, an English Department Chair would have a blind dog named Poe. Of course, Grady would be tempted to bed down with an attractive student (Katie Holmes) who worships his first novel, so perfectly called “The Arsonist’s Daughter.” The more one thinks, each absurdity seems dead on.
Therefore, when the humor comes it seems to be a part of the natural eccentricities of the film’s characters (if one will excuse the slight oxymoron). When one laughs they are not laughing at a cheap instance of ridicule. Rather, one laughs because the film has set up its characters and world so cleverly that one feels the humor comes from within the characters and not from the hand of the writer or director. It is a wonderful accomplishment.
WONDER BOYS opened and closed last Spring, with a run that would be understated to call brief. Critics loved it. The public stayed away. However, so good were the notices that Paramount is re-releasing the film into theaters. It is the best film of the year and should not be missed this time around.