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Wonder Boys
Paramount Pictures


8.0

based on 36 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 15 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie

FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for language and drug content

Starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Katie Holmes, Rip Torn, and Robert Downey Jr.

Grady Tripp (Douglas) is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years -- not since he wrote his award-winning Great American Novel seven years ago. It's hardly surprising, then that his college's annual literary festival fills the former wonder boy with more than his usual quota of self-doubt and anxiety. This festival weekend, however, proves even worse than he could have imagined as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy, his most gifted writing student James Leer (Maguire). (Paramount Pictures)

GENRE(S):	Drama
WRITTEN BY:	Michael Chabon (novel) Steven Kloves
DIRECTED BY:	Curtis Hanson
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: March 13, 2001 Video: March 13, 2001 Theatrical: February 25, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	112 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA / Japan / Germany / UK

Received three 2001 Oscar nominations, including Best Adapted Screenplay. Bob Dylan won the Oscar for Best Original Song: "Things Have Changed."

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

100

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

The most accurate movie about campus life that I can remember.

100

Film.com John Hartl

A giddy delight, with Michael Douglas delivering what may be the most relaxed and inventive performance of his career, and Tobey Maguire and Robert Downey Jr. trailing not far behind.

100

Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy

One of the most joyous, diverting and original mainstream American movies in years.

100

Boston Globe Jay Carr

A sweet screenful of quirky chaos.

Village Voice Amy Taubin

Downey, who radiates more energy doing nothing discernible than most other actors do when they let it all hang out, takes the film to another level.

Variety Emanuel Levy

Massively inventive, Wonder Boys is spiked with fresh, perverse humor that flows naturally from the straight-faced playing.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

A handsomely mounted, graceful production that is well-played across the board.

Film.com Robert Horton

Well-crafted scenes that carry a bracingly grown-up tang: unhurried, played in a low key, with plenty of time to savor the details of character and place.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

The first more-than-halfway-decent movie of a new millennium.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

An often-wondrous comedy, just as rich and surprising as "L.A. Confidential" but considerably less dark.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak

A terrific movie about middle-age malaise and a comedy of unusual wit and drollness.

Mr. Showbiz Kevin Maynard

This is certainly the best studio movie of the new year to date, and Douglas might even be remembered at next year's Oscars.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

The casting of Michael Douglas against type as an over-the-hill novelist and writing professor is the sort of clever move that wins undeserved Oscars.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Maguire and Douglas are extraordinary (though Douglas feels a little old for his role, which seems to have been written for a man in his early 40s); even Downey Jr. delivers a sharp, understated performance.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

With a cast this terrific and a story this rich and wry, Wonder Boys really can't miss, even if it thumps to an underwhelming and moralistic ending that undoes a fair amount of its goodwill.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

Michael Douglas digs deep and delivers one of his best performances in Wonder Boys -- a comic dazzler of roguish wit and touching gravity that is driven by characters, not jokes.

Newsweek David Ansen

(Douglas) is a superb (and underused) comic actor, one who knows that the secret of being funny is never begging for a laugh.

New York Daily News Jami Bernard

Among the movie's oddball treats are Robert Downey Jr. as Grady's flamboyant editor and Rip Torn as a pedantic author and sermonizer known only as Q.

Philadelphia Inquirer Carrie Rickey

Lovely performances from McDormand, Downey and Richard Knox, who looks uncommonly like Little Richard, as a bar owner named Vernon Hardapple.

Baltimore Sun Ann Hornaday

With a wistful look at the wages of ambition and the failure of promise, Wonder Boys finally celebrates self-awareness, ending on a muted, quietly moving note of triumph.

TNT RoughCut Sarah Raskin

See Wonder Boys for the acting, particularly McDormand and Maguire, but use the goofy moments to get popcorn refills.

USA Today Staff [Not Credited]

Droll mild amusement.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

Except for moments of labored symbolism and a too cozy ending, the movie stays sharply focused on its well-chosen targets.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

A wonderfully rumpled, loose comedy about the paralyzing fear of failure.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

The smartest movie to come out this year, and it could hardly be better cast.

Slate David Edelstein

Quite pleasant.

LA Weekly Manohla Dargis

It's striking on several counts.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

Plenty of fun while it lasts, but its aftereffects are mighty fleeting.

Film.com Ernest Hardy

For those seeking even a little adventurousness in their filmgoing experiences, the movie will wear thin very quickly.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Sweet, flaky, and more than a little aimless.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

The sentimentality overtakes Wonder Boys when, in the last half hour, it tries to make nice with its characters and fashion a deep message from a trivial story.

Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf

As detached and unfocused as a college pothead. And about as much fun.

Time Richard Corliss

The pulse of Curtis Hanson's direction is lethargic; the comic bits are so slack and deadpan you could mistake the film for an earnest drama--an Afterschool Special for troubled kids and their pooped parents.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

While the story takes some clever turns, its psychology is far from convincing and its momentum flags long before the finale.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

With so much going for it, how could the movie be such a dud?

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

The sad truth is that Wonder Boys is little more than a sentimentalized encomium to the disheveled, childish life it ascribes to writers.

The average user rating for this movie is 8.0 (out of 10) based on 15 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Damien C. gave it a 10:
There are films that talk to me more than others. Because some pictures,situations, musics and dialogues combined together make me feel so good that it seemed to have been written just for me, as if the writers knew me. Every scene of "Wonder Boys" is like that for me. It's funny, smart, moving. I don't care if some people find it stereotypical or mindless. It's one of the best film I've ever seen in my life. Michael Douglas, Downey Jr., Maguire, Holmes, McDormand, they're all great. The scenes with the teacher and the student wandering in Pittsburgh, looking for themselves, are fantastic. Curtis Hanson is one of the best. I love this movie.

raVen gave it a 10:
(11) One of my two favorite movies. So, clearly, it's one of the two best movies ever made. Every bit of it serves to build toward what happens next, and the whole movie hangs on nuance, conversation, and reaction--just like real life. It's got a great soundtrack, the funniest car crash you'll ever see, and a trunk that holds a tuba, a suitcase, a dead dog and a garment bag almost perfectly. Flawless.

Yoon Min C. gave it a 7:
Engaging and entertaining but what's this movie about? I can't tell as Michael Douglas didn't convince me for a second that he was a Literary professor and novelist.

Jack gave it a 10:
Wonderfully offbeat.

Didn't you used to be Gilbert Mulroneycakes? gave it a 10:
"Stereotypical"? Oh, please. Too easy. Far, far too easy. They're actually startlingly accurate and utterly brilliant characters, and to suggest otherwise is an assault on my dignity and my family. Michael Douglas gives one of his best performances, but Tobey Maguire and the marvellous Downey between them steal EVERY SINGLE SCENE they have. The scenes with both are a veritable tug-of-war. Great, overlooked film.

Paul F. gave it a 10:
Quite possibly the best movie of that year. There is no other film that can deliever so much comedy, and character complexity in such a neat, simple package. Bravo Curtis Hanson and bravo to Michael Chabon for creating the inspiration for this movie.

Michael C. gave it an 8:
Actual rating: 8.5 out of 10. Stunningly smart and endlessly enjoyable, Wonder Boys is a great follow-up for Curtis Hanson. But it hasn't got the touch that "L.A. Confidential" has. Still highly recommendable!

Wonder Boys Paramount Pictures

Wonder Boys
Paramount Pictures