Wolverine and the X-men

Apparently the first parts of this show aired while I was away, so I'm playing catchup some. Just watching the first three episodes now and filling in thoughts as I go through. I'll I'd better put them behind a cut, so I don't have to worry about spoilers, but I'll try not to give anyway too many major plot points.

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Wonder Boys

"On that particular Friday afternoon, last February, I was reading a story to my Advanced Writers' Workshop by one James Leer, Junior Lit major and sole inhabitant of his own gloomy gulag."



So starts Wonder Boys, the movie, the adaptation of the book by Michael Chabon. A man who is quickly becoming one of my favourite writers. While I was away I picked up the Wonder Boys and it's taken me a little time to read it, but mostly because I've dwelt over the wonderful lyrical language of the prose. There's a delightful turn of phrase to much of the narrative of the book and I've not wanted to miss a single sentence.

I read the novel first and I've just sat down and watched the movie and both have their high points. The novel concerns an incident packed weekend in the life of a dissolute, womanizing, pharmaceutically dependent college English teacher, Grady Tripp. The particular weekend sees Wordfest, a writers festival at the university he teaches at coinciding with the departure of his third wife, a bombshell from the Chancellor of the college, with whom he his having an affair, and the arrival of his editor, Terry Crabtree, a partner in crime since his own college years whose own debaucheries are oft hinted at. ("I was relieved not to have interrupted them in the act of exploring each other's lunar surfaces, or engaging in some other Crabtreevian activity that would have obliged ..... to speak to Officer Pupcik whilst dangling from the ceiling by his ankles, dressed as an owl.") Crabtree is there to read Grady's latest novel, an opus eight years in the making and nowhere near completion, a fact that has sent Grady into pot-addled hystronics.

What follows descends into a farce as dead dogs, a boa constrictor, a tuba, a stolen car, a Passover meal and Marilyn Monroe's coat all signal the collapse of Grady's life around him. Narrated in the first person, there's a delicious sense of Grady's life unraveling around him, but also a strong sense of his own character and history and the relationships he has with those around him. As he takes the strange young student James Leer under his wing, he's not so much offering support, but pulling him down with him, but you do understand the lack of maliciousness in Grady's misjudged stupidity which brings his life crashing down around him. He's a fool but a sympathetic fool.

What's delightful is the flawed nature of all the characters - no one's beyond reproach, but equally no-one is beyond redemption, even the predatory Crabtree.

The movie doesn't allow for the subtle use of descriptive prose to tell the tale, but Michael Douglas as Grady equits himself admirably, even if he doesn't quite capture the protagonist's nack for self-inflicted misadventure. With a supporting cast including Rip Torn, Tobey Maguire, Katie Holmes and Frances McDormand it's certainly got the pedigree, but it's Robert Downey Jr. as Crabtree who seems tailor made for the role, portraying just the right blend of wide-eyed depravity and occasional flashes of humanity.

The delightfuly perverse farcical elements remain intact from the novel and, while a lot of the interpersonal play is sadly jettisoned for clarity, it still manages to have that air of desperation, but optimism from the novel, even as things fall apart. Douglas manages to be nicely subdued and avoids playing what could have been a farcical role too much the way of cheap comedy, offering the pathos of the novel over out and out slapstick, even when the temptation is there. In fact cinematography, acting, scripting, soundtrack all combine to create an "whole" movie where failure can be celebrated. In addition, the screenplay maintains much of Chabon's wicked, sharp-tongued and devious humor. Witness:

Grady Tripp: Besides, I'm not sure if he's, uh...
Terry Crabtree: He is, I'm sure, take my word for it. I see myself in him.
Grady Tripp: Oh, I'm sure you do.

In retrospect I wish I'd seen the movie first, then read the novel as that would have allowed me to see the characters and situations of the movie expanded on in Chabon's delicious prose rather than boiled down, but either way, both are a delight.