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76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
xx
Fantastic Mr. Fox
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
66
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Wonder Boys

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 36 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 15 votes
Read user comments
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Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Michael Chabon (novel)
Steven Kloves
Directed by: Curtis Hanson
Release Date:
Theatrical: February 25, 2000
DVD: March 13, 2001
Running Time: 112 minutes, Color
Origin: USA / Japan / Germany / UK
Summary
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)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: 8 Mile In Her Shoes L.A. Confidential Losin' It Lucky You
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
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...
Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
The most accurate movie about campus life that I can remember.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
One of the most joyous, diverting and original mainstream American movies in years.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Variety Emanuel Levy
Massively inventive, Wonder Boys is spiked with fresh, perverse humor that flows naturally from the straight-faced playing.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan
A handsomely mounted, graceful production that is well-played across the board.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris
The first more-than-halfway-decent movie of a new millennium.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
An often-wondrous comedy, just as rich and surprising as "L.A. Confidential" but considerably less dark.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer Paula Nechak
A terrific movie about middle-age malaise and a comedy of unusual wit and drollness.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >TNT RoughCut Sarah Raskin
See Wonder Boys for the acting, particularly McDormand and Maguire, but use the goofy moments to get popcorn refills.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
A wonderfully rumpled, loose comedy about the paralyzing fear of failure.
Read Full Review >New York Post Jonathan Foreman
The smartest movie to come out this year, and it could hardly be better cast.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten
Plenty of fun while it lasts, but its aftereffects are mighty fleeting.
Read Full Review >Film.com Ernest Hardy
For those seeking even a little adventurousness in their filmgoing experiences, the movie will wear thin very quickly.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
Sweet, flaky, and more than a little aimless.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Gregory Weinkauf
As detached and unfocused as a college pothead. And about as much fun.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >The New York Times Dana Stevens
With so much going for it, how could the movie be such a dud?
Read Full Review >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.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
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!
