Wonder Boys. Every creative endeavor has them.
They are the people who, in a flash of brilliance, create a
work that leaves an indelible mark on society, leaving everyone
to speculate when the next flash will come.
Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas) is considered
just such a Wonder Boy. His first novel, written seven years
ago, was highly successful. The public, and his publisher, eagerly
await the follow-up work and as the years pass, it's rumored
that Tripp might be suffering from writer's block.
The reality is quite the opposite. Tripp is
having no trouble writing; it's finishing that's the problem.
His latest work spans thousands of pages and, try as he might,
Tripp just can't find a way to end it.
Meanwhile, his life as a professor at a Pittsburgh
college campus is turning upside down. His wife is leaving him
and he's having an affair with his boss's wife. Tripp has also
rented a room to a student and she seems determined to seduce
him. He's mentoring another student who, in addition to having
just completed his first novel, is also a compulsive liar. To
top it off, Tripp's publisher has just flown in to check the
progress of the new novel.
Tripp sees all of these events through a haze
as he spends considerable time getting stoned. Hannah (Katie
Holmes), the young would-be seductress, opines that his current
book might be such a mess precisely because of the drugs.
Tripp's reasoning against this is hard to
argue with: he wrote his first book while stoned.
This material is presented as a comedy, but
don't expect a sitcom. This is a film that gets its laughs honestly,
through the comedy that is real life. The pacing is careful
and slow rather than forced so that the laughs come naturally.
