The Movie: I gotta admit, the synopsis of Wonder Boys makes it sound pretty darned boring. It's about a college english professor (Michael Douglas) who is also basically a one hit wonder of a writer who is dealing with the fact that he can't seem to get his next book out. His world gets shaken up when his wife leaves him, his editor (Robert Downey Jr.) comes to town looking to check up on him, and he discovers that his mysterious student, (Tobey Maguire) is extremely talented, though majorly twisted in the brain. Sounds boring, right?

Well, the truth is, Wonder Boys is what they'd call a "character driven" piece. It's a smooth ride that lets you just get absorbed into the world of the movie and into the minds of its characters. Though there is no edge of your seat suspens, and nothing uproariously funny in the movie, I found myself pleasantly absorbed by this movie, and not bored at all.

You get some really great performances from Michael Douglas and Tobey Maguire. Robert Downey Jr. and Francis McDormand do a great job of playing their characters which admittedly, were not given too much depth in the story, and of course, Katie Holmes is always very easy on the eyes.

If you're looking for something soothing, something pleasant, and occasionally funny for a nice relaxing evening of enjoyment, Wonder Boys could be just the ticket. But if you're looking for some serious drama or raucous comedy, you won't find it here.

The DVD: At the start of the film, the DVD warns that it has been "edited for content" -- don't worry, you didn't just get some edited for TV version. One line of the movie was removed for incorrectly stating that someone had committed suicide (which offended that person's family in the theatrical release), but the rest of the movie was left unchanged.

The anamorphic widescreen transfer on this DVD was pretty good, though it didn't have the best clarity or contrast ever, it was still quite a clean image, with not much to complain about. The audio was functional, though nothing special.

Special features include cast/crew "interviews" which turned out to be no different from your average behind the scenes dvd featurette, an "interactive" location map with video clips discussing the various locations used in the movie, and a whole section highlighting the songs used in the movie (including taking you to the parts of the movie where the song appears), a Bob Dylan music video, and a theatrical trailer.

I probably wouldn't buy this DVD, and if you're a fan of this movie, the DVD release is really good only for the movie itself, as the special features turned out to be pretty boring and unenlightening.