It's cool that you like the movie so much. I didn't put that much thought into it, because nothing in it really grabbed me.
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.
Yes, I'd definitely agree with that.
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 women were definitely smarter and more together than the men, but I think it also shows an unspoken assumption of the cliche that women are more responsible but that they lack the "creative passion" that drives men. We're shown that Katie Holmes is a great critic, not a great writer, and that Frances McDormand is a very mature person, but not a great writer. (We're never explicitly told that they're bad, it's just that their creative efforts are invisible. Meanwhile we see the creative efforts of Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Rip Torn, even Frances McDormand's clueless husband writes.)
the Francis McDormand character is the smartest, most powerful character in the movie.
Yeah, but she's barely in it. Her role could've been much more significant if she'd gotten more screentime. It was hard to understand why she would've ended up with Michael Douglas in the first place--what did she see in him? What did they have in common? Katie Holmes, too, was barely in it. And I have to say, I found her crush on creepy old Michael Douglas to be incredibly, well, creepy. Why does she have to express her admiration for his writing by wanting to sleep with him?
I also lost respect for the film because of its simplistic ending--having just endured Less Than Zero I couldn't believe this one turned into yet another anti-drug polemic, as if getting rid of your stash is the key to fixing your fucked-up life. (Though at least he handed his off to young Alan Tudyk! That was a cool little cameo.) It was all just wrapped up in too neat of a bow at the end--no drugs, bathrobe replaced by sweater, look, everything's great!
Not that it was awful or anything. Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, and Robert Downey Jr were really excellent in their roles. (I'm thoroughly creeped out by Douglas and Holmes, though.) I love that scene where Downey is flirting with Maguire, and says his name several times with his eyes all big and his hair all tousled--his charisma just leaps off the screen. And I was impressed at how casually they handled a gay relationship; it wasn't a big Issue, it just was. (Although at the same time I felt it could've used more development or screentime, because we really took in everything from the outside without seeing what was going on in the characters' heads, Maguire's especially, regarding the relationship.)
I think the film overall probably suffered from being adapted from a book; a lot of stuff was squeezed in and probably not developed as fully in the film as it was in the book.
no subject
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.
Yes, I'd definitely agree with that.
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 women were definitely smarter and more together than the men, but I think it also shows an unspoken assumption of the cliche that women are more responsible but that they lack the "creative passion" that drives men. We're shown that Katie Holmes is a great critic, not a great writer, and that Frances McDormand is a very mature person, but not a great writer. (We're never explicitly told that they're bad, it's just that their creative efforts are invisible. Meanwhile we see the creative efforts of Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Rip Torn, even Frances McDormand's clueless husband writes.)
the Francis McDormand character is the smartest, most powerful character in the movie.
Yeah, but she's barely in it. Her role could've been much more significant if she'd gotten more screentime. It was hard to understand why she would've ended up with Michael Douglas in the first place--what did she see in him? What did they have in common? Katie Holmes, too, was barely in it. And I have to say, I found her crush on creepy old Michael Douglas to be incredibly, well, creepy. Why does she have to express her admiration for his writing by wanting to sleep with him?
I also lost respect for the film because of its simplistic ending--having just endured Less Than Zero I couldn't believe this one turned into yet another anti-drug polemic, as if getting rid of your stash is the key to fixing your fucked-up life. (Though at least he handed his off to young Alan Tudyk! That was a cool little cameo.) It was all just wrapped up in too neat of a bow at the end--no drugs, bathrobe replaced by sweater, look, everything's great!
Not that it was awful or anything. Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, and Robert Downey Jr were really excellent in their roles. (I'm thoroughly creeped out by Douglas and Holmes, though.) I love that scene where Downey is flirting with Maguire, and says his name several times with his eyes all big and his hair all tousled--his charisma just leaps off the screen. And I was impressed at how casually they handled a gay relationship; it wasn't a big Issue, it just was. (Although at the same time I felt it could've used more development or screentime, because we really took in everything from the outside without seeing what was going on in the characters' heads, Maguire's especially, regarding the relationship.)
I think the film overall probably suffered from being adapted from a book; a lot of stuff was squeezed in and probably not developed as fully in the film as it was in the book.
Anyway. It was decent, just not really my thing.