Next Stop Wonderland

Spiffy little romance/comedy which didn't follow in the footsteps of most in this genre. Perfectly paced with nice doses of nifty dialogue, a plethora of all sorts of characters, and a pair of leading players who came off as real people with the same needs as all of us. The leading lady was torn between her need for a mate and her distaste for all the hubbub that such a search entails. The leading man didn't appear to need a mate as much as he needed to shuck his routine job in favor of the more interesting marine biologist. This, at times, paled in comparison to his money problems and having to deal with a shady character and his muscle bound crony lurking menacingly just behind. Good film, and you'll love that aquarium.

Unlike most romantic comedies that get distributed, Next Stop Wonderland is neither star-peopled nor entirely plot-driven. Although the film was marketed as another Nora Ephron knockoff, it is very different from the slick, syrupy Meg Ryan vehicles viewers were led to believe it would resemble. Brad Anderson's beautiful, shimmering treatment of light, and his pleasingly idiosyncratic manner of filming the Boston urban landscape (and the lovely Hope Davis), well serve the sympathetic honesty with which he treats the search for love in the modern American city. A magnificent film.

Erin (Hope Davis) is recently single (her boyfriend moved out), a nurse and looking for Mr. Right. Alan (Alan Gelfant) works at the New England Aquarium, is a student and has no time for love. Naturally they're made for each other. We watch their separate lives all through the movie slowly intertwining them and drawing them to each other.

This is a very small independent film, shot in Boston and picked up by Miramax. If you know Boston and the surrounding cities some of this is amusing. Erin lives in a huge apartment in Beacon Hill--there's no way a nurse could afford that. Also she meets all her dates a bar called the Burren which is located two towns away in Somerville! But they did get Wonderland right--that's a station on the Blue Line subway where Alan lives near.

Those little goofs aside (actually they're pretty funny) this is a very nice, romantic film. A perfect date movie. It's got a very laid-back feeling that is absolutely charming. This is helped with a very soothing music score. But be warned--this movie is only for true romantics! If you look at it in a serious frame of mind you're gonna hate it. But if you're a romantic (like me) you'll love it! Davis gives a very nice low-key performance (but she could have lightened up a little); Gelfant is good also--and has beautiful eyes. Also well-directed by Brad Anderson. Not believable for a moment but boy--is it romantic! I recommend it. I give it an 8.

Take a tour through some gorgeous Boston sights, even some kinda grubby under the (soon-to-be-erased by the Big Dig) elevated streets. I loved the Puffer-fish in our wonderful New England aquarium. And is this Gelfant guy sexy-----whoah!!! The sight of him and the flirty student he's mentoring eating each other up on the whale-watching boat was OUTSTANDING!! With all his obvious knowledge of the girl's crush and her wiley ways, he STILL gives into the animal chemistry in a surprising rush. I am SO tired of obviously phony kisses onscreen that this one caught me off-guard.

If you've ever done a dating ad thing, you'll empathize with the heroine's disgust at the pitiful and revolting lines of the many 'candidates' she meets. When one lowers his pseudo-intellectual facade long enough for you to see the human being behind, you want to scream, "Why didn't you show THIS part of yourself to her before you lost the chance?" Of course, the 3-way bet by the scum bums ends well as they get their just desserts. The well-meaning but meddling mother behind it all who placed the ad is well-written and well-played.

It's enough to watch the superb photography to buy this movie, but the many boy-girl angles portrayed also make it worthwhile. It could have been entitled, "What Not to Do on a First Date". I own it and am looking forward to giving it to my unmarried son as a tutorial. I also lend it out to people I want to lure to Boston.

"Next Stop Wonderland" is a fresh, fun, smart, and sassy romantic comedy which sticks Davis out in front as a typically jaded revolving door dating single who is on a collision course with Mr. Right (Gelfant). There's not an ounce of fat on this lean little indie which is imbued with a sense of destiny, the sound of Brazil, and scene to scene unpredictability with periodic poignant pauses and brief philosophical passages all seeming unique to Anderson's auteursmanship. Intelligent and hip fun for romcom junkies. (B)