NEXT STOP WONDERLAND (1998)
A Film Review
Copyright Dragan Antulov 2004
Romantic comedy is the most cliche-infested genre of today's
Hollywood. So, it doesn't take much of an effort for filmmakers to
produce original romantic comedies. Straying only a little bit from
the formula is enough for even the most predictable romantic
comedies to look refreshing. Good example could be found in NEXT
STOP WONDERLAND, 1997 film directed by Brad Anderson.
The plot is set in Boston where 30 years-old nurse Erin Castleton
(played by Hope Davis) again finds that her long-time boyfriend
Sean (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) has left her in order to
pursue left-wing political causes across the world. Her wealthy
mother Piper (played by Holland Taylor), displeased with her
daughter's new solitude, intervenes by placing a lonely hearts ad for
her. Erin meets small army of single men who are usually weird,
pathetic or both. On the other side of town 34 year-old plumber
Adam Monteiro (played by Adam Gelfant) is faced with different
problems. He is determined to escape his family's criminal past and
wants to become marine biologist, but so far he only managed to
volunteer as a worker in city aquarium. Adam and Erin are perfect
match, they constantly bump into each other at the street, but some
time must pass before they finally get together.
Brad Anderson's film is in its essence typical romantic comedy, but
the small details are enough to make it almost unrecognisable to all
those who expected something associated with Meg Ryan, Julia
Roberts or Sandra Bullock. First, seldom used Boston locations look
refreshing for this sort of film. Anderson also uses filmmaking style
usually associated with documentaries. The casting is unconventional
for this sort of film - protagonists are played by relatively unknown
and not very glamorous actors. This, together with very good
writing, adds to the film's realism. For example, Hope Davis is
relatively attractive woman, but her looks are plain enough for the
audience to accept her as simple nurse rather than character that
wandered off from fashion shoot. Because of that the audience can
identify with Hope Davis' and other characters - they look like
ordinary people they can find on the street every day and the
audience can recognise most of their problems. NEXT STOP
WONDERLAND is far from being perfect - not very convincing
crime subplot could have been left on the cutting-room floor - but,
unlike most romantic comedies, it succeeds in being original and very
entertaining at the same time.
RATING: 7/10 (+++)
Review written on September 21st 2004
Dragan Antulov a.k.a. Drax
http://film.purger.com - Filmske recenzije na hrvatskom/Movie Reviews in
Croatian
http://www.ofcs.org - Online Film Critics Society
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