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And for Tripp, it is hell. His third wife leaves him, his
publisher is coming to get hold of the manuscript he's been
writing for seven years and hasn't finished yet, his mistress
is preggers and he keeps getting so whacked on pills that
he falls over a lot.
Add to that a seemingly suicidal student and the body of
a murdered pet and you have 48 hours from the Devil's living
room.
But while Tripp is having a bad time, you really enjoying
watching his pain/anguish/difficulties.
Most of the enjoyment comes from Douglas' performance, but
the other actors all add their own touch of eccentricity to
boost the movie.
Robert Downey Jr is nicely debauched as his editor Terry
Crabtree and haunts him for the manuscript (and when you see
it you'll cack yourelf) in a very nice way.
Frances McDormand is his girlfriend Sara Gaskell, who just
so happens to be the chancellor of the uni he's at (and her
hubby's his boss), and it is possibly the most accessible
part I've seen her in.
Tobey Maguire is ... well, Tobey Maguire ... and plays the
seemingly morose student James Leer in a devilishly innocent
way.
Wonder Boys is one of those movies in which everything
that can go wrong does go wrong, but seems to work out okay
in the end - well, mostly.
I don't know why it didn't work so well at the theatres
- when I saw the shorts I thought it looked good - but take
it from this chap it is a movie well worth sitting down to.
Conclusion: Movie 85%, Extras 60%
Continued:
DVD details at a glance >
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