NEXT STOP WONDERLAND (1998)
Reviewed by Jerry Saravia
(Originally reviewed in 1999)
(Originally reviewed in 1999)
When I saw the preview for "Next Stop Wonderland," I was excited. I was expecting a comedy about the personals, and how difficult it is for a single woman to date in the 90's. Well, the movie skimps on that completely for a mostly stale romantic comedy that offers nothing new - just the same old story about a girl meets boy with some "Sleepless in Seattle" thrown into the mix.
Hope Davis stars as Erin Castleton, a lonely, miserable 29-year-old nurse living in Boston. In a wry opening sequence, her left-wing boyfriend (the phenomenal Philip Seymour Hoffman) walks out on her again and leaves a videotape of the eight or more reasons why he has dumped her. Erin is understandably upset and swears she will no longer have romantic attachments. The idea is short-lived when her visiting mother places a personals ad for her, writing that her daughter is "carefree and has a zest for life." No aspersions directed to Ms. Davis (whom I am sure is a lovely, spirited woman in real life) but her character is anything but carefree and zesty. Erin looks positively glum and charmless at best. Still, she dates a variety of men she meets on the personals (after receiving more than 60 messages) and is suitably unimpressed by most of them - especially when they misattribute a quote about "consistency" to other writers except the originator, Emerson.
The film starts off so damn well that I was expecting a fresh variation on the dead-on-water romantic comedy genre (a genre that desperately needs an infusion of originality). Sadly, writer-director Brad Anderson relegates the material to formulaic conventions and superficialities. There is a lot of business about a plumber named Alan (Alan Gelfant) who wants to be a marine biologist. He also owes some money to a loan shark, and this whole subplot is disinteresting at best and takes up too much time. There are also some needless scenes involving Erin and a Brazilian charmer who wants her to come with him to Sao Paulo (nothing romantic about a polluted city - I know, I lived there). The best scenes are the cross-cutting between Erin's different dates, especially three of them who are betting to see who will spend the night with her first. But these scenes last no more than twenty minutes time of a ninety-six minute running time. We know there is the potential meeting between Alan and Erin (no bets on whether or not they will meet) but it keeps getting sidetracked and prevented, just like in "Sleepless in Seattle." It is a cute idea but it is nothing we have not seen before countless times.
"Next Stop Wonderland" might serve a need for couples since it is unassuming, cutesy and occasionally romantic. But there is a better movie struggling to get out and it just never materializes. I just imagined a better movie benefitting from more screen time with Philip Seymour Hoffman as the ex who can't make up his mind, and the engaging material about the personals. Anything but this oft-travelled stop.
