Starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Frances McDormand, Katie Holmes, Rip Torn, Richard Thomas. Directed by Curtis Hanson. Grady Tripp is a professor at the University of Pittsburgh, teaching writing riding on the reputation of an acclaimed book he wrote seven years earlier. In his class is James Leer (Maguire), a young protege who came to Pittsburgh to be in Grady's class. With encylopedic knowledge of when and how famous stars killed themselves, James tends to write about the dark side of life. Another student, who rents a room from Grady and has a bit of a crush on the him, is Hannah (Holmes), a kindly, generous soul. Grady's wife left him just that morning, ostensibly because he wasn't there for her. This might be because he's having an affair with the university chancellor Sara (McDormand), married to Grady's boss (Thomas). His day starts getting worse as his book editor Terry (Downey Jr.) has arrived in town with a transvestite he just picked up, to see if Grady's book is ready for editing. It isn't. It's not that Grady has writer's block - the book is over 2000 pages already. He just doesn't know how to finish it. That night at a party at Sara's celebrating a writer's festival at the university a friend and literary rival Q (Torn), who bangs out a new book every 18 months, basks in the glory of his admirers, and puts the moves on an uninterested Hannah. Grady meets James hanging outside with a gun, and after checking out Sara's bedroom, James shoots the chancellor's dog after it attacks Grady. They grab the dead dog, stuff it in the trunk, and take off to a bar nearby. James gets a bit loaded, and crashes on the sofa at Grady's place. And they spend the next couple of days taking a journey around Pittsburgh trying to figure things out. Ostensibly a comedy, it is not very funny, and it's not very sharply written. Featuring a series of episodes loosely connected, the movie lacks focus. Unlike Hanson's exceptional L. A. Confidential, where several plot elements were beautifully interwoven as it moved to it's conclusion, Wonder Boys just meanders from one episode to the next, several not very interesting, and several more seemingly included for the hell of it. For example, a James Brown lookalike is inserted, as well as a pregnant waitress. The story is not without its high points, however. Terry's discussion with Grady about how he doesn't fit into the new corporate world of book publishing is quite moving. Hannah gets a hold of Grady's book, and while she likes the writing, she tells him that, unlike in class where he always tells his students they must make choices, and in his book he refuses to make any. Which could be said about this movie itself. The cast is not the problem. Robert Downey Jr. is hilarious and electric as the publicist who needs Grady's book as much Grady does. If he could just stay out of jail. Holmes projects confidence and decency - you can fully believe Q's interest, and don't understand Grady's lack of it. Douglas plays Grady as confused, aimless and loveable, but his character tends to suck the life out of the movie. Wonder Boys is not horrible. It just drifts along aimlessly, wasting a pretty good cast. Give it a miss. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page