Susan Granger's review of "NEXT STOP WONDERLAND" (Miramax Films)
Independent film-maker Brad Anderson's whimsical, low-budget romance was a big hit at the 1998 Sundance Film Festival. Hope Davis is a 30ish Boston nurse who has just been dumped by her political activist boy-friend, a Marxist, who, heartlessly, took the futon and left her a farewell message on the video. This callous rejection prompts her meddling socialite mother, played by Holland Taylor, to place a personals ad on her behalf in a local newspaper. Meanwhile, on the other side of town, Alan Gelfont, a second-generation plumber, is trying to separate from his family's seedy underworld background by becoming a marine biologist. Unfortunately, however, his work at the Boston Aquarium revolves around fixing leaky pipes. As sulky Hope embarks on a series of disastrous dates with strange suitors, she keeps almost meeting Alan as they're both traveling on the Boston Metro's Wonderland line. Finally, of course, they do meet and romance blossoms. Of course, then there's the 'what next?' problem or, as one character comments: "The real mystery is what keeps two people together after they meet." With her big brown eyes, pale skin, long blonde hair, and tart commentary, Ms. Davis is, indeed, a contemporary Alice, pondering her destiny as she's gazing into the looking glass with the same quirky appeal of Lewis Carroll's adventurous heroine. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, "Next Stop Wonderland" is a wry, wistful 7. Set to a Brazilian bossa nova swing called "saudade," it's an intelligent, upbeat look at the urban singles scene, a "chick flick."
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