Wonder Boys (2000)

This movie has that Philip Roth, John Updike kind of feel to it. An adulteress professor who is a fading genius, it's set in the north east, has a dry sardonic humor and eccentric characters, is smartly written, and so apparently I need to start reading Michael Chabon. Based on Chabon's second novel, which is about a man trying to write his second novel, Wonder Boys is solid, clever, and well cast. Michael Douglas in the lead, fending off the advances of Katie Holmes while cheating with Francis McDormand who is married to Richard Thomas, while he mentors Toby McGuire, envies Rip Torn's writing prowls, and puts off his publisher Robert Downey Jr. Directed by Curtis Hanson, who apparently was trying to do something really different from L.A. Confidential. Critics liked it, but audiences stayed away both from the initial release in February of 2000 and its rerelease late the same year. This movie has grown something of a cult following however and is among the favorite films of a very movie savvy friend of mine. I didn't quite love it, but I really liked it. ***1/2