Wonder Boys (2000)
83%RT Audience Score: 83%
Awards & Nominations: Won 1 Oscar
21 wins & 46 nominations total
Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire do wonders in this clever dark comedy
Wonder Boys” is a movie that will make you laugh, cry, and question your own existence all at the same time. Michael Douglas gives a performance that will make you forget about Gordon Gekko and fall in love with Grady Tripp. It’s a coming-of-age story for adults that reminds us that life is messy, but that’s what makes it worth living. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and enjoy the grand mess that is “Wonder Boys.
Production Company(ies)
Distributor
Paramount Pictures
Release Type
Theatrical
Filming Location(s)
Pittsburgh International Airport, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
MPAA / Certificate
Rated R for language and drug content
Year of Release
2000
-
Color:Color
-
Sound mix:DTS Dolby Digital
-
Aspect ratio:2.35 : 1
-
Runtime:1h 52m
-
Language(s):English
-
Country of origin:United States
-
Release date:Release Date (Theaters): Feb 25, 2000 Wide
Release Date (Streaming): Mar 13, 2001
Genre(s)
Comedy/Drama
Keyword(s)
starring Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, Richard Thomas, directed by Curtis Hanson, written by Michael Chabon, Steve Kloves, Comedy/Drama, R rating, box office gross $19.4M, reviewed by Nell Minow, Emanuel Levy, Charlotte O’Sullivan, Peter Travers, Ed Gonzalez, Marjorie Baumgarten, Brian Eggert, Tony Black, Yasser Medina, Sean Burns, Nick Rogers, Grady Tripp, James Leer, Sara Gaskell, Terry Crabtree, Hannah Green, Walter Gaskell, Paramount Pictures, Dolby Digital, DTS, Surround, Scope (2.35:1), college professor, writer, coming-of-age, campus lifestyle, depression, psychopath, writing ingenue, hippie life, mistress, joint, misadventure, wonder boy author, award-winning, Great American Novel, published, drug content
Worldwide gross: $33,426,588
Worldwide gross (inflation-adjusted): $57,975,601
Worldwide gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,270
Worldwide tickets sold (est.): 6,322,312
US/Canada gross: $19,393,557
US/Canada gross (inflation-adjusted): $33,636,491
US/Canada gross ranking (inflation-adjusted): 1,235
US/Canada opening weekend: $5,808,919
US/Canada opening weekend (inflation-adjusted): $10,075,081
US/Canada opening weekend ranking (inflation-adjusted): 955
Budget and Earnings Details
Production budget (est.): $55,000,000
Production budget (inflation-adjusted): $95,392,868
Production budget ranking: 435
Marketing and distribution budget (inflation-adjusted est.): $51,369,059
Box office net earnings to date (inflation-adjusted est.): -$88,786,325
ROI to date (est.): -60%
ROI ranking: 1,746
Tobey Maguire – James Leer
Frances McDormand – Sara Gaskell
Robert Downey Jr. – Terry Crabtree
Katie Holmes – Hannah Green
Richard Thomas – Walter Gaskell
Director – Curtis Hanson
Producers – Curtis Hanson, Scott Rudin
Writers – Michael Chabon, Steve Kloves
Director(s)
Curtis Hanson
Writer(s)
Michael Chabon, Steve Kloves
Producer(s)
Curtis Hanson, Scott Rudin
Film Festivals
Awards & Nominations
Won 1 Oscar
21 wins & 46 nominations total
Academy Awards
Oscar Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures Winners, Oscar Nominees, Oscar Original Song Winners, Oscar Winners
All Critics (126) | Top Critics (38) | Fresh (102) | Rotten (24)
This grand mess of a movie has many pleasures.
December 29, 2010 | Rating: 4/5
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media
TOP CRITIC
Michael Douglas gives the best perfromance of his career (to be remembered at Oscar time) in this screwball comedy about a college professor who’s pushed into maturity by forces beyond his control; a well-acted coming-of-age saga for adults.
April 5, 2007 | Rating: A-
Emanuel Levy
Variety
TOP CRITIC
With so much to say, Hanson’s movie is too frenetic.
December 2, 2002
Charlotte O’Sullivan
Sight & Sound
TOP CRITIC
Get going, you laggards.
May 11, 2001 | Rating: 4/5
Peter Travers
Rolling Stone
TOP CRITIC
The overall effect is like opening a present on Christmas morning.
May 2, 2001 | Rating: 3.5/4
Ed Gonzalez
Slant Magazine
TOP CRITIC
November 8, 2000 | Rating: 3/5
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
TOP CRITIC
Wonder Boys reminds us that life is about putting one sentence after another, knowing when to start the next chapter, and realizing when it’s time to discard your progress altogether and start something new.
February 17, 2022 | Rating: 4/4
Brian Eggert
Deep Focus Review
Classy but listless existential privilege.
February 16, 2021 | Rating: 3/5
Tony Black
Cultural Conversation
A silly, anodyne, and terribly absurd comedy drama, packed with characters as flat as a freshly printed blank sheet. [Full review in Spanish]
January 30, 2021 | Rating: 5/10
Yasser Medina
Cinemaficionados
This is probably my favorite comedy of the past twenty years.
November 27, 2018
Sean Burns
The ARTery
Like a favorite novel, “Wonder Boys” gets more comfortably broken-in with each return, and Michael Douglas wears Grady Tripp’s scruffiness as sharply as he does Gordon Gekko’s natty clothes – addressing jealousy, panic and terror in creative complacency.
December 15, 2010 | Rating: 4/4
Nick Rogers
The Film Yap
One of those films where the term ‘character study’ is used to excuse the fact that there’s nothing of real interest in the story.
December 27, 2009 | Rating: 2/4
Michael Dequina
TheMovieReport.com…
Plot
Grady Tripp is a professor/writer living in Pittsburgh who is struggling with writer’s block. Whilst doing this, he also manages to get the chancellor pregnant. In the meantime, he and a college student, James Leer are trying to find a rare jacket once owned by Marilyn Monroe, and a college girl, Hannah Green boarding with Grady has a bit of a crush on him.
Trivia
Goofs / Tidbits
Fresh Kernels praises Michael Douglas’ performance in Wonder Boys as the best of his career.
Curtis-Hanson.jpg
