I had a very different reaction to Wonder Boys. Of course, I'm of a different generation, so I'm seeing it through a very different filter. It's about having been a prodigy and discovering too late that you actually have to work to realize that potential. Grady has completely wrecked his life by coasting through it.
I don't agree that "men write, and women clean up the messes." The story has a male point of view, but what's lurking around the edges is that the women are just as smart and creative if not more so. The girl (whose character name I'm blanking on at the moment) is hinted at being a better writer than Grady or even possibly the Toby Maguire character. (BTW, this film has my absolute favorite performances from both Maguire and Robert Downey Jr.) We simply don't see her work, because the story is about Grady's realization that he's pissed away his natural talent, and watching Toby Maguire teetering on the brink of following him or forging his own, more productive path. At the same time, the Francis McDormand character is the smartest, most powerful character in the movie.
Of course, thematically, I may be importing some weight from the book (which is funnier that the movie, and richer in detail). In the book, Grady's soon-to-be ex-wife's family aren't bland, white people (one of the few really bad missteps of the movie, IMHO). They are a highly creative, eccentric family, who seethe with rivalry mixed with self-loathing, mixed with loving one another. (The book's scene where Grady goes to visit his wife's family is absolutely brilliant, but would have been very difficult to work into the film. Even so, they really gutted the family by making his in-laws these lobotomized kindly robots.)
Wonder Boys is on my list of favorite films, ever.
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Date: 2006-08-30 09:23 pm (UTC)I don't agree that "men write, and women clean up the messes." The story has a male point of view, but what's lurking around the edges is that the women are just as smart and creative if not more so. The girl (whose character name I'm blanking on at the moment) is hinted at being a better writer than Grady or even possibly the Toby Maguire character. (BTW, this film has my absolute favorite performances from both Maguire and Robert Downey Jr.) We simply don't see her work, because the story is about Grady's realization that he's pissed away his natural talent, and watching Toby Maguire teetering on the brink of following him or forging his own, more productive path. At the same time, the Francis McDormand character is the smartest, most powerful character in the movie.
Of course, thematically, I may be importing some weight from the book (which is funnier that the movie, and richer in detail). In the book, Grady's soon-to-be ex-wife's family aren't bland, white people (one of the few really bad missteps of the movie, IMHO). They are a highly creative, eccentric family, who seethe with rivalry mixed with self-loathing, mixed with loving one another. (The book's scene where Grady goes to visit his wife's family is absolutely brilliant, but would have been very difficult to work into the film. Even so, they really gutted the family by making his in-laws these lobotomized kindly robots.)
Wonder Boys is on my list of favorite films, ever.