fetmiary 18 . 2 Q 0 Q » Just Mft.35
B oys
ichael Douglas, Tobey M aguire, Robert Downey
Frances M cDormand
cted by Curtis Hanson
onder
fonder Boys is an episodic tragicomedy in
search of a more cohesive story. The
boys of the title are portrayed by
lichael Douglas, looking every bit his post-50
ge yet acting like he’s never grown up; Robert
-,wney Jr. as his literary agent in desperate
“ed of a best seller; and Tobey Maguire (fresh
om his superb performance in The Cider
'ouse Rules) as the writing protégé dragged
long for this lost-weekend adventure.
We’re supposed to like Douglas as Grady
ripp, a rumpled, stubbled college professor
ho’s had one great literary triumph, even if it
was seven years ago. He’s spent the intervening
ears writing his follow-up novel— all 2,116
pages of it— apparently while seeking inspira
tion from alcohol and Humboldt County’s best
weed. He’s in real danger of becoming a one-
hit wonder when his agent comes to town to
pressure him for the manuscript, accompanied
by a sky-scraping trans woman as his date.
While Downey’s character is identified as
gay and fixes his gaze on the protégé after his
date dumps him, the refreshing thing is that his
gayness isn’t much of an issue— or much of a
plot point. He is just accepted at face value.
And in light of Downey’s current residence in a
California cooler, it’s no stretch to find him
believable as a rather desperate drug-toting
party animal.
The film feels like too many cooks had a
hand in the editing— sometimes it seems like a
screwball comedy caper, complete with a stolen
car, a dead dog, a purloined jacket that
belonged to Marilyn Monroe and a tuba. At
other times there are glimpses into the agony
of the creative life and the pain professor Tripp
feels while witnessing his student surpass him.
There are plenty of laughs, but this film
requires that you squelch any desire to analyze
the plot for rationality. There are just too many
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Michael Douglas (left) as Grady Tripp in W onder Boys takes it in stride when his editor,
played by Robert Downey Jr. (right), arrives for the weekend with a towering trans woman
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Sandra Bernhard
n 1998 and 1999, Sandra Bernhard took I ’m
Still H ere.. .Damn It! on the road; at her last
stop, Slim’s in San Francisco, her perfor
mance was filmed for an HBO special. Due out
on video Feb. 29, the tape includes a bonus 30
minutes of outtakes not in the special.
Far and away the best part of this rambling
affair, those 30 extra minutes feature Miss San
dra riffing on some of her famous pals— her
hilarious outing of Rosie O ’Donnell is even
more outrageous than the treatment O ’Donnell
gets on Mad TV.
In a vivid peek at the making of a television
special, Bernhard throws a grand hissy fit when
she decides the audience isn’t laughing loudly
enough. “This is an HBO special, honey, this is
not some fun little, tacky little club date,” she
shouts. She goes on to further berate them into
showing some enthusiasm, even if they have to
fake it.
Actually, it’s easy to see why the audience
started out lukewarm. While Bernhard can cer
tainly induce a good laugh when she tells one
of her trademark bitchy stories, such moments
are far too few. This is not at all a comedy
show, but rather the wandering, stream-of-
consciousness musings of an angry woman. A
real hodgepodge, it includes snippets that are
meant to be taken as real life, imaginary con
versations, C D reviews and a cautionary drug
tale.
Female singers suffer most from her wicked
tongue. Bernhard opens with a long rant about
I
Decidedly not how a very pregnant
Sandra Bernhard looks in her new video
her friendship-cum-obsession with Courtney
Love. Part of the fun is trying to guess what’s
real. Later on she lights into both Madonna
and Mariah Carey with claws fully extended.
One of her funnier bits is a mock poem about
the Lilith Fair: “1 just don’t know how much
more of these little waifish alternative singers I
can take— give me an old-fashioned, sweaty,
big-tittied bitch of rock and roll!”
Bernhard— who has the moxie to appear in
a very sheer dress with almost nothing on
underneath while extremely pregnant— is
indeed fearless, which is refreshing and appeal
ing. Unfortunately, her fearlessness leads her to
offer herself as a singer, which stops the show,
but not in a good way. W hile she has a mimic’s
ear and sings several songs as various charac
ters, she clearly lacks the pipes of the real deal.
This video is strictly for serious fans.
■ OR1ANA G reen is the Entertainment Editor o f
Just Out. She has been known to spend entire
summer days in the cool haven o f the multiplex.
C ontact her at oriana@ justout.com .
Proudly Serving
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Portland Metro Area
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moments when Tripp could solve most of his
problems with a few words, but chooses instead
to prolong the trouble he gets into with his stu
dent in tow.
There’s a subplot involving the women in
Tripp’s life, but it’s very secondary to his artistic
crisis. The Hollywood ending comes too fast
and too simply to be anything other than a
fairy tale, but for a few hours’ diversion you
could do much worse. Wonder Boys is sched
uled to open this month.
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