Movie-Robot

If it slipped under your radar in the theaters, like it did mine, then please see it. Every person (including those whom I've forced) who has seen this movie has loved it without exaggeration.

Michael Douglas is the star, in the truest sense of the word. Though he usually possesses a kind of creepy energy on film and also when discussing his marriage to Catherine, he is just plain likable in this movie. I think it's the affection this movie can generate is what raises it from "good" to "great." Every character in this movie is sympathetic (except possibly for John-Boy as the pretentious head of the English Department). That is really saying something where seemingly every film contains a cartoony villain or antagonist.

(The same COULD be said of "The Royal Tannenbaums" but all but Hackman's characters are 0- or 1-dimensional relative to these in "Wonder Boys.")

I'm glad I bought the DVD - even though there aren't any twists or surprises at the end that promote a 2nd viewing to understand what just happened (like "Memento" or "The Usual Suspects") and the DVD doesn't have alternate endings or supplemental material (like "Se7en" or both versions of "Planet Of The Apes"). But watching this always puts me in a good mood; I watch it with friends, and loan it to friends. I'm just very careful to make sure the disc is returned promptly.

The BBC series was usually worth a smile. This movie is worth a fire-bombing.

Whereas the series was kind of clever by placing this odd, British everyman (kind of like Ziggy from the comics) in unusual situations, the movie is a series of Bean mugging and hamming his way through cut-away shots from a zero-dimensional family. This is pathetic.

Let me put it to you this way: This movie is a giant, nut-filled turd.

Without exaggeration, I can tell you that I've seen this movie at least 30 times. And I always find something new about it. For instance, in Ron & Sheila's audition with their treatment of "Midnight At The Oasis", it took me about 10 viewings til I noticed that Sheila is mouthing the words to Ron because of his problems remembering his lines.

I really don't know where to begin listing my favorite things about this movie - Ron's "medical reason" for his sole trip outside of Blaine, Dr. Pearl's Carson impressions, Sheila's "less-is-more" acting approach, Corky's tantrums ("I hate you, and I hate your ass face!"), Libba Mae's description of her job at Dairy Queen, councilman Steve Stark admiration for Corky ("GOD, I wish I was in the show"), there is not a wasted moment in this film. It's stupid of me to try to list them here.

The extras on the DVD feature a ton of scenes that weren't in the movie. There's some additional Corky items in his memorabilia collection, including towels from "Hamlet On Ice", alternate epilogues for both Ron & Sheila and also Dr. Pearl, a scene of Corky driving around town telling people they made the cast, a nutty scene of Ron's whiffle-ball reenactment of Bill Mazeroski's famous home-run, dinner at Johnny Savage's house, and extra stuff from the musical - "Nothing Ever Happens In Blaine", "This Bulging River" and also a whacked-out White House scene. But the piece de resistance of the deleted scenes is Libby Mae's other audition piece which is so subtly twisted that you just need to see it yourself.

It's debatable whether this movie is outright cruel in making fun of small townsfolk & community theater types. But the more I watch it and get into it, I think that everybody in the movie has a strong amount of affection for their characters. I don't know; you watch it 30 times and tell me what you think.