Et plus si affinités

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.

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.

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.

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.

Erin's boyfriend leaves her after years together with nothing more than a video tape featuring the reasons why he has left. Finding herself single again, Erin is forced back into the market when her mother puts her in the classified ads. Meanwhile Alan is a plumber pursuing his dream of becoming a marine biologist. However volunteering at the local aquarium doesn't earn him any money which is a problem given the gambling depths that his father has amassed with loan shark Frank.

A very slight film, this indie-romance will appeal to those who see the false sentiment of Hollywood romcoms as below them but yet also yearn for the sweet, fated romance that they normally contain. This compromise is well delivered in this film that will appeal to the same audience that seek this mix. The plot has the elements of the contrived hand of fate and it is amusing the way the two characters drift around one another. It doesn't have a great deal of substance to it and it will annoy some viewers because of how knowingly "kooky" it all it is. It is rarely hilarious but it is sweet and amusing throughout. The presence of Anderson as writer and director drew me to this film as I know him as a name from Homicide, The Shield and the brilliant The Wire. This film has little in common with these but is still worth a look for doing what it does do well.

The cast help matters greatly by turning in "indie" performances while delivering the rather sentimental material. Davis is a fine example of what I mean as she is very much a "kooky" type while also having enough humanity about her to make her character interesting. Gelfant is very much a secondary character of the two but he does well enough considering he is supposed to representing Mr Right. The support cast compliments the overall feel of the film with turns from Argo, Hoffman, Buono, Zúñiga and The Wire's Gilliard Jr all in small roles.

Overall then a kooky romance for those who want the silly emotion of the Hollywood romcoms without all their gloss and sweeping music. Slight and an acquired taste perhaps but amusing and sweet even if it is quite forgettable.