Wonder Boys poster

Wonder Boys (2000)

Film · 1h 47m · Rated R

Comedy, Drama

A witty, darkly comic drama unfolds as a stalled writer navigates a melancholy, misadventurous weekend.

Intimate, with dry wit. A full-attention watch at a measured pace. Emotionally it is heavy.

Streaming on Kanopy (free) and Hoopla (free).

Wonder Boys parents guide

It stays inside its R, with some innuendo or implied sex and some violence.

Scare
Not scary
Jump scares
None noted
Gore
No gore
Violence
Some violence
Some fighting or peril.
Sex and nudity
Mild
Mild means innuendo, or sex implied off screen, with no nudity.
Language
Strong
Frequent strong profanity or slurs.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

What is Wonder Boys about?

Grady is a 50-ish English professor who hasn't had a thing published in years—not since he wrote his award winning 'Great American Novel' 7 years ago. This weekend proves even worse than he could imagine as he finds himself reeling from one misadventure to another in the company of a new wonder boy author.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Bittersweet. It earns its ending, but not everyone gets what they want.

Cast and crew

Directed byCurtis Hanson
StarringMichael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, Rip Torn

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Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.