rnardo's 'Buddha' 1 e Four Noble Truths? Chris Isaak in the male lead? Keanu Reeves as Siddartha Gautama? Whoa! Check out "Little Buddha" screening in the Michigan Theater at 7 p.m. michigandaily.com /arts iRTS MONDAY MARCH 6, 2000 5A Tidy ending weakens otherwise By Matthew Barrett Daily Film Editor 'Wonder' story Director anticipated Curtis Hanson's follow-up to much "L.A. Confidential," considered by many to be one of the finest films of the ' , is "Wonder Boys," a weekend- to look into the life of Grady Tripp (Michael Douglas), a college profes- Wonder Boys Grade: B - A* rwood, Quality 1 & Showcase S s his now 2000 plus l sor with big- time problems. Grady doesn't seem to meet the criteria of your typical English 125 instructor as he cheats on his wife (with Sara, the wife of the school's dean) and smokes weed on a daily basis In addi- tion, Grady is hard at work on page follow-up to she's pregnant with his child. Things. are further complicated when James enters the mix and pops Poe, the dean's dog, with a couple in the chest. The pooch is soon deposited into the trunk of Grady's car and so our weekend begins. For the most part, Hanson handles the action well and once again bene- fits from a stellar cast. Each of these actors seems just right for the part, so much so that it's hard to picture anyone else as the characters. Douglas is on the mark as Grady and Maguire has the tortured artist thing down with James. McDormand is equally up to the task, in her first significant role since winning an Oscar for her performance in "Fargo." Also appearing are Robert Downey Jr. (on parole for the part?) as Terry Crabtree, Grady's editor, and Katie Holmes as Hannah Green, a student of Grady's who lives in his house and has her eye on him. One of the main strengths of "Wonder Boys" is the way that Hanson allows the story to slewly develop in front of our eyes. Each character feels set in their own way of doing things, and it seems that Grady must be the leader of a move- ment of change, something he is very reluctant to do. Perhaps this is why the last 20 minutes of "Wonder Boys" kill much of what the film had going for it. The entire ending feels fake, overly sentimental and as if it were deliv- ered to us in a neat little package with a bow. These are all imperfect people, so to the give them a tidy conclusion just doesn't feel right. The film could also have done with- out Grady calling James. "wonder boy," seeing as the film's title speaks for itself and is understood even if it's not heard. "Wonder Boys" is enjoyable and interesting to watch but is unable to overcome its final act and unable to hold a candle to Hanson's previous effort. a hit book that he wrote years ago. With no end in sight to his beast of a book, his editor in town looking for tlnanuscript and his wife leaving him for good that morning, it's safe to say that Grady Tripp is at a cross- roads. A talented cast leads "Wonder Boys," Including Rip Tom, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes, Tobey Maguire and Michael Douglas, Grady's companion for much of nizes the writing talent that James nection between Grady and James the weekend is his student, James possesses and knows in his heart that and sets up the action for the remain- Leer (Tobey Maguire). James is the someday soon the pupil will surpass der of the film. We're soon jettisoned outcast of his English class due to his the teacher. to a party at the dean's house, where distant personality and the oddball The film kicks off with a class- Grady slips off with Sara (Frances stories that he writes. Grady recog- room scene that establishes the con- McDormand) only to find out that Qourtesy of Paramount Pictures Michael Douglas.-stars as Grady Tripp. Confusing script plays too many 'Games' By Erin Podolsky .Arts Writer Reindeer Games" is one of those unfortunate films that has missed its window of opportunity - and, worse yet, missed it in more ways than one. Originally scheduled for a Christmas '999 release, a date infinitely more appropriate to the movie's content than where it now resides, it was moved for Reindeer Games Grade: C At Quality 16 and Showcase a / reasons known only to Swami Weinstein and the Miramax market- ing department. So here it is, in all its thriller glory, released past its prime like an overcooked pot roast, charred on the outside, still raw on the inside stands, "Reindeer Games" shifts wildly between by-the-book thrill-ride and edgy satire of a genre that Frankenheimer has devoted much of his career to chroni- cling, from the sparklingly tragic, sar- donic "The Manchurian Candidate," still as fresh today as it was nearly 30 years ago, to 1997's post-traumatic Cold War syndrome tale "Ronin." The extremes that it finds itself caught up in are too much for its small-town, small-character feel, and there are consequences to be had with such folly. The basic plot is something of a no- brainer, which might explain why Kruger and company were so floored by their own twisty brilliance. In a confer- ence room somewhere, these guys are sitting around having a good laugh at just how smart they are, self-congratulatory cigars and backslaps all around. Boys, please stop partying. Mr. Kruger, you have now had three screenplays pro- duced, and all three have included Big Fat Surprise Twist Endings. I fear for what you have in store with "Texas Rangers" but not so much as I fear hav- ing to watch your other movies a second time through. Where was I? Oh yes, the story. Ben Affleck plays Rudy, a car thief who was- n't so good at thieving and so ended up in the clink for a few years. He is best buddies with cellmate Nick (James Frain), although dropping the soap seems to be kept entirely off-screen. Nick is set to meet his prison pen pal girlfriend Ashley (Charlize Theron) when he and Rudy are conveniently paroled at the same time despite the fact they apparently didn't know each other before playing in the pokey and aren't in for the same crime. Also conveniently, Nick gets shanked in the cafeteria during a this-food-sucks riot. Three guesses as to what Rudy does when he gets out and sees Ashley, beautiful, blond and wait- ing, alone outside the prison walls. "Reindeer Games" is a highly conve- nient movie. Conveniently so. So now Rudy-pretending-to-be-Nick is banging Ashley's brains out (Attention, testosteronians! You must weigh your options carefully: Refuse to suffer through "Reindeer Games," or go nobly to see Theron in her birthday suit?) in a seedy motel five minutes after meet- ing her and, of course, failing to consid- er the ramifications of this little identity swap. If he'd had one moral fiber in his body, though, the rest of the film could not have happened, and so he continues to get some very pleasant non-prison sex until Ashley's brother, Gabriel (Gary Sinise, in previously unattempted scenery-chewing glory), shows up. Gabriel is a gun-runner trucked tired of logging miles, so he decides he's going to throw over a casino with Nick's help. Of course, this particular Nick has no idea what Gabriel is talking about, so the rest of the film is devoted to Rudy alter- nately trying to convince Gabriel and his crew of merry men that he isn't Nick after all, trying half-heartedly to escape (he has many opportunities but seems to pass them all up for some unknown rea- son other than the film's running time), or thinking on his feet about how to dupe Gabriel into thinking he is Nick and knows the casino like the back of his 'hand. All this and he has to find time to shoehorn the announcement to no one in particular, "Never put a car thief behind the wheel!" I presume he says this in pri- vate because he knows that an audience See GAMES, Page 8A Planning Trips for Generations X, Y, andZ. and an unpleasant k experience for all involved. Not that I fault director John Frankenheimer for his efforts here, now; he made his mistake long ago, way back in the script stage, when somebody should have stepped up and made a deci- sion about the material as written by Miramax poster-boy Ehren Kruger ("Scream 3," the upcoming Miramax -tem tater-tot "Texas Rangers"). As it of Michian Brewed Beers 9pm - Close Bells * Arcadia Dragonmead Local Color Motor City ANNOAROP I 4 LATE NIGHT 996919 FOOt10D SPECIAL www.Ashley's.com WINGS> 10 m-1am Undergrads + Graduate Students * Fulfill a distribution or general education requirement * Accelerate progress towards your degree or minor