Intermission: 'Wonder Boys' a 'sneaky' film

"Wonder Boys"

Directed by: Curtis Hanson

Starring: Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr.

Rated: R

Writer and director Curtis Hanson has had a long career that's really been all over the Hollywood map. In 1978 he wrote the screenplay for the great oddball thriller "The Silent Partner," and then went on to direct a few, if not critically praised at least commercially successful, films such as "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "The River Wild."

This former editor of the Hollywood magazine "Cinema" struck pay dirt in 1997 with the complex, and perfectly executed ensemble piece, "L.A. Confidential." His follow-up to that masterpiece is a subtly paced screwball comedy called "Wonder Boys."

Here Michael Douglas displays once again his talent for offbeat humor, and Frances McDormand, even with limited screen time, proves there is simply no better actress working today.

"Wonder Boys" is one of those sneaky little films that I liked even more a few days after my initial viewing. And if ever a film had an effective albeit decidedly humorous anti-drug message, this is it.

Douglas plays Grady Tripp, a college professor of some note who early in his career wrote the Great American Novel, called "The Arsonist's Daughter." He's now working on his follow-up, a book that even unfinished is more than 2,000 pages. It seems Tripp's predilection for smoking pot while writing has led him down the road of too much detail.

He's also preoccupied with the fact that his wife has left him and he's in love with Sara, who is chancellor of his school, married to the head of the English department ... and pregnant with Grady's child. Where many movies would play these scenarios to the extreme, Hanson, Douglas, McDormand (as Sara), et al., use a restrained hand that makes the plot all the more real.

The college is holding its annual literary event, WordFest, and Grady's editor Terry Crabtree (Robert Downey Jr.) has come to town to participate; and to see what's holding up Grady's latest novel. Terry has in tow a transvestite (everyone but Terry finds this completely obvious) that he's met on the plane, but he soon falls for one of Grady's pupils, a talented young writer named James Leer. Although neither man is explicitly gay, the attraction is obvious. For all his troubles in real life, Downey is a fine actor and he makes this part his own.

Tobey Maguire plays the kid, whose most distinct personality trait is the fact that he's a pathological liar. Maguire acts his part with the same restrained aplomb that Hanson elicits from the rest of the cast.

As Grady's life seems to be falling apart, he is in many ways aptly piecing it back together. Rather than having a midlife crisis about losing his wife and impregnating his mistress, he seems to be learning from his experiences and making mature decisions. By the end of the film Grady even comes to terms with his most pervasive habit.

(Jim Wunderle works at Associated Video Producers and is a Springfield free-lance writer and musician.)