WONDER BOYS

Directed by Curtis Hanson. Starring Michael Douglas, Frances Mc Dormand, Tobey Maguire, Robert Downey Jr., Katie Holmes

Sparkling with a script that's nasty, witty and dark in equal measure, Wonder Boys is part college-comedy, part shaggy-dog tale and part Deconstructing Harry (without the flights of fancy and cheerfully constant use of the C-word). As the cast list hints, it's a labyrinthine affair, if not quite as densely plotted as director Hanson's breakthrough work L.A. Confidential.

Instead, Wonder Boys is an intricate and entertaining character study, with Michael Douglas as Grady Tripp, an utterly spent writer-cum-academic who wanders around sporting a manky pink dressing gown which effortlessly outstrips Bruce Willis' Die Hard vest as the most unhygienic piece of clothing in cinema history. Behind Douglas, you've got a vastly superior supporting ensemble featuring the likes of Fraces Mc Dormand, Rip Torn, Tobey Maguire and Robert Downey Jr.

The plot runs thus - Tripp's wife has left him, he has a bad dose of writer's block, and his debauched literary agent (Downey Jr.) has just hit town. He has a repulsively ambitious, career-minded student (Holmes) making moves on him, and he's just got his head of department (Mc Dormand) pregnant.

If this litany of events seems familiar - Douglas assailed by woes left, right and centre - his character this time out is infinitely more vulnerable, subtle and (whisper it) likeable than the likes of D-Fens in Falling Down. This may have something to do with the appropriately-named Tripp's incessant grass-smoking, a sweet touch which enhances his humanity no end.

We're not quite talking masterpeice status, but Wonder Boys is a timely reminder that there's more to Douglas than painfully protracted pre-nuptial agreement warfare with Catherine Zeta-Jones. Well worth a look.