Robert Downey Jr.'s Star-Studded 2000 Comedy Flopped Twice At The Box Office

This doesn't happen much anymore, but there was a time when studios would spend a considerable amount of money on a prestige picture in the hopes that the film's A-list pedigree would pay off in Oscars and box office glory. These movies weren't made to be blockbusters (though they could reach such commercial heights on occasion); they were intended to be respected library titles that reflected favorably on the impeccable taste of the executives who greenlit them. Bring together top talent for a project with a buzzy screenplay, and you were well ahead of the game.

These movies don't always pan out. For every "The Silence of the Lambs" or "The English Patient," you could wind up with a non-starter like "Havana" or "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil." In these cases, the studio knows it's missed the mark and takes it on the chin for a week or so until everyone forgets the movie exists. Sometimes, however, the marketing fails the film. The people in charge of putting the picture on moviegoers' radar either don't understand the material or hedge their bets and sell a movie the filmmaker hasn't made. And when a studio is unsure of a film's awards/commercial potential, it sometimes releases it at the wrong time on too few screens, hoping against hope that it'll be a word-of-mouth hit.

I don't know that Curtis Hanson's "Wonder Boys" was ever going to be a hit or an awards season juggernaut, but it's hard to imagine how Paramount could've more thoroughly botched its release. The splendidly shaggy comedy based on Michael Chabon's 1995 novel boasted a stellar cast that included Michael Douglas, Tobey Maguire, Frances McDormand, and Robert Downey Jr. Paramount knew it had something on its hands, so it gave the film two theatrical rollouts.

Paramount first released "Wonder Boys" on February 25, 2000. It stars Douglas as Grady Tripp, a stoner novelist who toils under the crushing success of his first book. He now teaches a creative writing course at an unnamed, prestigious Pennsylvania university, where he finds himself confounded by his star student, James Leer (Maguire). Tripp has also complicated his position at the school by sleeping with the chancellor's wife (McDormand), who's discovered she's pregnant with his child. Meanwhile, his second novel, which his agent Terry Crabtree (Downey) is constantly hounding him about, has breached 2,500 pages and is nowhere close to being finished.

"Wonder Boys" is a hangout movie. It feints at being a road movie early on, but it stays close to home. Written by the great Steve Kloves ("The Fabulous Baker Boys") before we lost him to the "Harry Potter" franchise, it has a shambling narrative rhythm that gives it a 1970s New Hollywood feel. It was critically acclaimed, but it wound up being dumped to theaters (grossing $33.4 million at the box office against a $55 million budget) and never caught on with audiences or awards voters.

Paramount was encouraged to re-release the movie in November of 2000, but it was a half-hearted, 12-screen gesture. It should've debuted "Wonder Boys" at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, where Hanson's crime masterpiece "L.A. Confidential" received rapturous reviews. The studio did this film dirty on multiple levels, which is why it is, at best, a cult curiosity today. I think it's one of the best movies of the 2000s, and I highly recommend that you throw it on tonight.