Review of Next Stop Wonderland (1998) by Eric F — 06 May 2008

I did not really care for this one.

I'm a big fan of a lot of what Brad Anderson does... his films are always unique, well written, and intricate. This one, however, didn't have much more depth than a sitcom - just your typical by-the-numbers Hollywood love story.

This follows a similar format to a film like Sleepless in Seattle where the two protagonists don't meet until the end of the film. Sleepless in Seattle did that very succesfully, but this movie just came off as directionless. Like it was a prelude to the relationship that we might have some hope in caring for, but how they got to that point is completely uninteresting and irrelevant. Erin and Alan both had fairly uninteresting lives, with horribly unconvincing "relationships" near the last half of the movie that really anchored the film down even further. It's the most predictable story in the world, and we didn't once thing that these characters would stick around at all.

Hope Davis did a good job here, but I didn't particularly like her character. I could relate to her in many ways - however, it was completely taken to the extreme in that she came off as incredibly pretentious and rude. In fact, I didn't necessarily find her likable in the least bit. Alan's character was a bit more likable... but, Alan Gelfant was horribly cast as he always seemed out of place and didn't have the look of that "likable, average guy". Tom Hanks was perfect for that kind of role, but Gelfant looks like he should be a cowboy shooting up some baddies in a western.

Despite how stale this all was, there is some really entertaining stuff here and there. Although they were a bit cheesy, I did like the scenes where Erin was met with all of the "suitors" who had contacted her via the newspaper ad. Those scenes certainly showed the quirkiness that i'd expect from Brad Anderson (see: Happy Accidents).

You can't necessarily say anything was wrong with this particular film - but the problem was everything is too right. It's all so formulaic and uninteresting. I'd find myself daydreaming every now and then, and i'd have no problem getting caught up as i'd seen the film a thousand times. Skip this.