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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: Wonderland (2003)
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| Susan Granger |
 Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2003 5:02 pm |
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Susan Granger's review of "Wonderland" (Lions Gate Films)
The adult movie industry is thriving, churning out some 6,000
pornographic movies a year and allegedly grossing more than $4 billion, about
the same as the National Football League. One of its legendary stars was John
Holmes, who inspired the Dirk Diggler character in Paul Thomas Anderson's
"Boogie Nights." Related in a feverish, frenetic style and told from different
points-of-view, like Kurosawa's "Roshomon," this story traces how Holmes was
implicated in a real-life, notoriously gruesome multiple homicide that took
place on Wonderland Avenue in Los Angeles's Laurel Canyon back in 1981.
Well-endowed John Holmes (Val Kilmer) is depicted as a self-destructive,
hedonistic, cocaine-addicted hustler who not only knew all the murder victims
but was somehow involved with the violent revenge crime. Whirling within his
sleazy circle are two women: Holmes' long-suffering, estranged wife (Lisa
Kudrow) and his devoted teenage girl-friend (Kate Bosworth). And on the
unsavory outside are the seriously nasty gangster Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian),
local drug dealers (Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate) and a bearded biker (Dylan
McDermott).
Director James Cox and his multiple screenwriters seriously overestimate
our interest in any of these contemptible characters, let alone who did what to
whom and why. Cameos by Carrie Fisher, Janeane Garofalo and swimsuit-clad
socialite Paris Hilton contribute little more than a distraction, while Michael
Grady's gritty, hand-held cinematography and Jeff McEvoy's kinetic editing add
to the frustration. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Wonderland" is a
sordid, incoherent 2. Don't even consider wasting your time or money on these
drugged-out losers.
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X-RAMR-ID: 36047
X-Language: en
X-RT-ReviewID: 1204386
X-RT-TitleID: 1126070
X-RT-SourceID: 742
X-RT-AuthorID: 1274
X-RT-RatingText: 2/10 |
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