User reviews

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.

"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)

Just saw this last night, while on a "date"...and I'm glad that I listened to my friends who recommended it. This is a PERFECT date movie. Enough of a romantic comedy to put you in that oh-wouldn't-it-be-great-to-be-in-love mood, but unpredictable and un-corny enough to slip away from the usual Hollywood trappings. I won't ruin it for anyone, but the "linoleum moment" was priceless, and Hope Davis is terrific. I'm renting "The Daytrippers" this weekend.

I love this movie's realism, juxtaposed with a certain magic, i.e., fate, karma, destiny - and the question of whether these elements exist in real life. Here, the possibilities unfold and are played out as quietly, subtly and unexpectedly as they can and often do in real life.

What surprised me most is that when I was doubting whether our heroes (Alan and Erin) would get together at all, I realized that it was okay - disappointing, but okay - if they didn't; as long as they found happiness, that would be fate calling the shots. The movie as a whole puts a positive spin on being alone with yourself, on the importance of taking the time to find what you really want and need. Which is something we all need in life, but how often does Hollywood promote that philosophy?

All the actors were terrific, especially the two leads, Alan Gelfant and Hope Davis; they were people you might really know - quietly passionate in their pursuits, sometimes just struggling to get through the day. There's a lot of humor too: in the prickling, loving tension between Erin and her mom; in the bar-table philosophies spouted by various characters; and particularly the in blind-dating montage - I will attest to how true to life this is!

See this movie - heck, buy it. The more you watch it, the more you get out of it.

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.

In Boston, nurse Erin Castleton (Hope Davis) gets dumped by Sean (Philip Seymour Hoffman). She's avoiding her mother (Holland Taylor) who keeps trying to set her up. She joins her nursing friend Cricket (Callie Thorne) at a party at the aquarium. Marine biology student Alan Monteiro works at the aquarium which is in a long running battle with land developer Arty Lesser (Robert Klein). Both Erin and Alan often end up on the train to Wonderland station.

Hope Davis is a movie star. Some people have a screen charisma that is undeniable. They generate their own light source. Alan is missing that and his half of the movie falls a bit flat. She has some fun bad dates but it's the last date that is almost electric. There is a real sense of danger. Alan's date is cute but it's nowhere at that level. In the end, there is a real energy coming from Hope Davis and this would be better as a simple single gal rom-com indie.

One of my life objectives is to watch every single movie with Phillip Seymour Hoffman in it. Since I saw him in a movie I've said I never finished watching ("State and Main"), I have been in love with his way of working; his body language and mostly his voice. While I may sound exaggerated, it's something I'm trying to do, and it gets me to peculiar places; like "Next Stop Wonderland".

Hoffman is not an important player in the film, even when he appears at the beginning. As Sean, he is dumping his girlfriend, Erin (Hope Davis), the most important player in the film. How the filmmakers have created Erin is remarkable. It had been a long time since I've seen a well-rounded character like this one. She's eccentric, tough, and now extremely depressed as abandoned by the man she loves. She spends her lonely days reading random phrases in a book written by her father. She loves that.

However, her elegant mother Piper (Holland Taylor) puts an ad in the newspaper, proposing a single, outgoing, charming and likable woman looking for a couple. "That's not me mom…That's you!", Erin tells her mother gently. Now Erin finds herself with calls and messages from men whose ages start in 30 and end in 50; no advices from her gay friends.

Continuing, Erin encounters different guys in one bar, and they try to win her with metaphoric phrases, without knowing the authors she knows by heart; cultured comments she knows are clichéd, and in one case sweet talking that ends up in a wedding ring falling out of a wallet. This scene shows the comedic talent of director Brad Anderson, and his writing collaborator Lyn Vaus. They also show other talents, like the dramatic one, as they keep their characters realistic enough so we understand how they feel when things occur to them.

Some guys are making a bet to win Erin. One of them is Alan's (Alan Gelfant) brother. Although this seems like the other side of the world, it's in the same city where this Alan works in the aquarium as he studies to become wiser about that. He's already an old man, but is cultured as no one around him, and passionate about what he does (kind of like Erin, right?). Even when Erin and Alan are so similar; each of them doesn't know the other exists. They have crossed sometimes probably, but while Alan experiences a relationship with a younger girl that claims to love him, Erin is approached by every old guy in a bar and almost conquered by a Brazilian "Latin lover"…But it doesn't seem right.

Brad Anderson loves his characters and when his camera moves fast at times and slowly at others, we sense he cares about his actors work. That's why Hope Davis shines in this role, which is comedic and different to what we usually get from her. Besides, she got into the park, and so did Alan Gelfant, who talks and looks like a young Sylvester Stallone but with more comedic gifts than the latter would ever dream of.

Don't bother yourself asking if these two characters belong together because thy do. But at 100 minutes of film, Brad Anderson stops in Wonderland and encounters the leads. But he is so original and so far away from typical film-making that he won't give you what you're expecting for, like everyone does. He will leave it to your imagination.

This low-budget film should be judged from a different level than a big-budget production, I suppose. Yes, it was similar in a way to 'Sliding Doors' and at times seemed like a poor man's Woody Allen. But, I enjoyed it. I liked Erin in spite of, or maybe because of, her quirks. I found Alan to be a very noble and charmingly flawed man. I liked that the film focused on the lives of the two main characters separate from each other. How they "almost meet" is reminiscent of 'Sliding Doors'. Erin's string of bad dates is a bit of a cliche, but well-done just the same. I enjoyed this movie, it has a lot to offer and is well worth seeing.

This is a very enjoyable movie. I must admit that I had my doubts at first, as it looked far too sugary for my taste. Poor marketing I guess. However, this is the first movie in years which I watched and then watched again the next day. Hope Davis' character, Erin, elicits many emotions -- the first of which is pity. Having been dumped by what is clearly the wrong man, we witness her attempt to re-enter the dating scene. She is immediately catapulted back into the world of losers, married men, and guys who are downright scary. She handles all of this with grace, but more than a hint of cynicism. You can often see the depression in her face, as she moves from one date to the next, always telling her friends that "there's no such thing as destiny." And yet, there is (as she discovers.)

Her character seems very much the essence of the modern young single person: She tells herself she is happy alone, but quietly yearns for the depth of true love. She is never rude, except when it's deserved, but she is never particularly friendly either. She inadvertantly wears the scars of years of dating on her sleeve. A very subtle and clever performance from the ethereal and under-appreciated Hope Davis. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Okay, a lot of people said this was "over rated" like much of the new indie "type" films coming out of Hollywood. So I do have a preconceived notion before viewing this film .... that it was going to be another parade of the beautiful 20-30something people, with little or no acting ability. AND to have the horror amplified by over done "edgy, trendy" soundtracks, that make it next to impossible to hear most of the dialog.

Wow was I surprised. Not that the actors in this film are unattractive, but they look, act, talk, interact, etc _more_ like the rest of world. True to life representation of the dating scene. I highly recommend this film. There is a particularly funny scene revolving around a restaurant .... hey just give it a chance, sometimes the hype is well deserved, this is one of those movies.

This is one of the dullest, most boring movies we've ever tried to watch. I don't know what movie the positive reviewers saw - it couldn't have been the same one!

We made it through 22 agonizing minutes, and only stayed around that long because of the rave reviews. We kept hoping it would get better, but it only got worse and worse.

The writing is blah, the acting wooden, and none of the characters seemed like real people. Forget this one, and see Sleepless in Seattle instead.

I liked Hope Davis in Mumford - a far better film. She just looks tired and bored in this one.

This film is exactly how romance was meant to be portrayed on film. Love leaves you vulnerable, completely exposed, mad, and yet it is all worth the road where it takes us. This movie shows you that road for two people, and paints it so beautifully. It has been a long time that I have laughed at moments so familiar. This movie takes us places we've all been, or where we are right now. I am so angry at my friends for never telling me about this movie. I found it on the IFC channel today 5/11/05. This movie ranks in my book up there for romance movies w/Say Anything, Frankie and Johnny, and A Little Bit of Romance. Watch this film, it'll enlighten you and make you smile. Now who doesn't want to smile?

Hope Davis as Erin is beautiful, sad, unfulfilled, recently dumped by her clueless socialist live-in boyfriend, and coping with the memory of her beloved father while living in the shadow of her overbearing mother. She smokes, she drinks, she's quick with a sarcastic one-liner. And, naturally, she's looking for love.

Alan Gelfant as Alan is pensive, rugged, ambitious, sensitive, dedicated to his budding career as a marine biologist, and coping with his father's failings while living in the shadow of his successful attorney brother. He smokes, he drinks, he's quick with a sarcastic one-liner. And, naturally, he's looking for love.

Erin and Alan are "perfect" for one another, so naturally, they keep missing opportunities to meet and fall in love. Isn't life ironic?

Here's another "quirky" attempt to cash in on the "Sleepless in Seattle" scenario (say that seven times fast) by having two "made for each other" characters walking the same streets, leading parallel lives, looking unsuccessfully for love, but only meeting at the end, and then only by happenstance. This one is a slight notch above last year's abysmally unfunny and uninvolving "Til There Was You", but only because the dialogue's a little better and the main characters aren't quite so cloying and uncharismatic (or in Dylan McDermott's case, plain unlikeable). Otherwise, this one is just as uninvolving, but as usual we get plenty of by-now cliché insights into the perennial difficulties of finding the right one in an urban environment populated with literally millions of wrong ones.

We young urban singles get the point, and so does everyone else. Our romantic struggles are not that interesting as entertainment. Can we move it along now?

"Next Stop Wonderland" is a lovely, very underrated indie romantic comedy, co-written and directed by Brad Anderson ("Happy Accidents", "The Machinist"). The always wonderful Hope Davis stars as Erin, a nurse from Boston who's dumped by her boyfriend, Sean (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Her liberal mother (Holland Taylor) places a personal ad for her in the paper (without Erin's consent). Initially appalled by the idea, Erin's life starts to change when she decides to meet the guys who answer the ad.

"Next Stop Wonderland" gets away from stupid Hollywood clichés, and is romantic without being corny. Anderson's and Lyn Vaus's witty script has some amazing dialogue, and Hope Davis brings the right emotional depth/low-key humor to her character. This movie is similar to the recent "Broken English" (starring another indie goddess, Parker Posey), only better. Honduran actor José Zuniga plays a Brazilian guy (hopeless romantic or prick?), speaking a very mannered Portuguese (more like some kind of "portuñol", a mixture of Portuguese and Spanish) that doesn't beguile the most naïve Portuguese speaker - which is very annoying for native Brazilians, specially considering that there are so many talented Brazilian actors out there that would've fitted the part. Of course I'm not saying foreign people can't play someone of a different nationality, but when the actor can't pull a decent accent, that's a problem. Anyway, that's a minor flaw, and "Next Stop Wonderland" is definitely an adorable flick. The soundtrack, full of classic Brazilian bossas (a rarity in American movies) is a plus, and the perfect complement to the movie's bittersweet atmosphere. 8.5/10 in my books.

I absolutely love this movie! Hope Davis is amazing, she always gives great performances in all the films that she is in and this is just another one of this performances. The lead male is this film is also very good, and come to think of it the whole cast is really excellent. this is film is about a lonely woman (davis) and the main guy, and them almost meeting each other but never actually doing so. This movie sort of reminded me of the film serendipity, but this is a much better film, with more interesting and much more believable characters. All in all i feel that this is a movie well worth seeing because everyone can relate to the loneliness in the film.

Three-quarters of the way through "Next Stop," I realized that I really didn't care whether these two people ever met or not. Neither is particularly likeable. There's some fairly amusing dialogue, but isn't that pretty easy to come by these days?

I was particularly looking forward to seeing Hope Davis, after reading so much about what a brilliant actress and ethereal beauty she is. Perhaps this film is not the best introduction to her skills, because she plays Erin as a one-note sad-sack (not unlike the "brunette Gwyneth" in "Sliding Doors," which was actually a much better romantic comedy). And she looks like Boy George, with her big pointy nose and weak chin. She's also overly made-up, so I couldn't really detect any "glow".

All in all, I'm not sure what made this the six million dollar movie. Worth seeing only as a diversion.

I was surprised by my own reaction to this movie. I felt the loneliness and anxiety that the characters demonstrate. The movie really catch me and became one of my favorites. The wait for the meeting between a nurse and a plumber gave us several moments of pure joy by the intelligence in those takes. As a Brazilian person I have to say that the soundtrack is delicious. We have here some sweet pieces of Bossa nova that harmonically fit in to the story and give us unforgettable moments in the movie. And what about that friendly baloonfish? Its already a character apart. I certainly recommend this movie to the ones who demand a reflective story about human anxieties admirably conduced by sensitive and intelligent Brad Anderson. Thanks, Brad, for the experience.

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" was an absolutely wonderful romantic comedy. It right away became one of my favorite of the genre of magic realism bringing lovers together genre.

It helps to like the New England Aquarium and Boston (the title is a pun on a transit stop) - hey who doesn't.

Hope Davis was wonderful in "Daytrippers" and she shines here. It's just a matter of time until she gets cast as the sister to Lisa Kudrow in a movie.

Terrific use of lovely Brazilian music all through.

(originally written 4/11/1999)

This film is perhaps the most boring I have seen in sometime. I rented it based upon critical acclaim (I guess that should have given me a clue that it would be dull), expecting it to be funny and different. However, "Wonderland" ended up being stale and formulamatic (don't know if that's even a word). The characters were listless (or was it the acting) and the story lacked any substance. I'm not sure if the problem was in the script, the direction or the acting, but I suspect it was a combination of all three

It has been a while since we have another good romantic comedy. It was about 2 people, who seemed destined to be together, but through accidents and unexpected events missed the opportunities to meet.

Erin, a night shift nurse, does not believe in fate. After being dumped by her protest-crazed boyfriend, her mother, believed Erin was lonely, set her up by placing an ad on the personal page for her. Even she believes that a woman can be content being alone, Erin can't help but tries to see if she can meet the right person from one of the 64 suitors who answered the ad. Whereas Alan, an ex-plumber now student, who works as an voluntary-diver at the Boston Aquarium, wants to make his own destiny. He does not want to be like his plumber-father, who has to borrow money to bet on races, and he does not share his brother and friends point of view on "relationship". After a series of hilarious events (Erin's interviews with different suitors, her revenge on those whom she realized was having a cunning scheme), they eventually meet ...

This movie is the kind that if you don't believe in the characters, it will not work. Here Ms. Davis (who is beautiful and projects a kind of dignity, that you know she is not desperate to look for dates) does a successful job of making you fall for her, hoping she can find someone who shares the same view as hers. Whereas Mr. Gelfant, does a good enough job as Mr. Right. Director/editor Brad Anderson, besides picking the right script, gets great help from the leading and supporting performers, which together make this quite an enjoyable movie.

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.