''Next Stop Wonderland'' is a 1998 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by Brad Anderson, written by Anderson and Lyn Vaus, and starring

Hope Davis Hope Davis is an American actress. She is known for her performances on stage and screen earning various awards and nominations including a Tony Award nomination, as well two Primetime Emmy Awards, and two Golden Globe Award nominations. She m ...

and

Alan Gelfant Alan Gelfant (born May 21, 1957) is an American film actor. Life and career Gelfant was born in Syracuse, New York. He has acted in more than 50 plays and dozens of TV shows and movies, including leading roles in the films ''Next Stop Wonderland ...

. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1998, where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize.

Plot

Two people live unlucky in love in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

: Erin, whose activist boyfriend Sean has just walked out on their relationship to help a Native American tribe fight off a land development deal, and Alan, a plumber struggling to pay off family obligations while pursuing a career as a

marine biologist Marine biology is the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea. Given that in biology many phyla, families and genera have some species that live in the sea and others that live on land, marine biology classifi ...

. Both deal with personal and professional problems and stumble through relationships, continually crossing one another's paths without ever truly meeting and realizing how perfect they are for one another. Time and time again one almost catches the other's eye, but circumstances intervene. After a series of ups and downs both of their budding relationships with others crash and burn, just in time for a chance meeting on the MBTA train (the Blue Line) heading to Wonderland station in

Revere, Massachusetts Revere is a city in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately from downtown Boston. Founded as North Chelsea in 1846, it was renamed in 1871 after the American Revolutionary War patriot Paul Revere. In 1914, the Tow ...

, on the outskirts of Boston.

Cast

as Erin Castleton *

as Alan Monteiro *

Philip Seymour Hoffman Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—typically lowlifes, eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical produ ...

as Sean *

Cara Buono Cara Buono (born 1973/1974) is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Dr. Faye Miller in the fourth season of the AMC drama series ''Mad Men''; Kelli Moltisanti in the sixth season of ''The Sopranos''; Linda Salvo in the 200 ...

as Julie * José Zúñiga as Andre de Silva * Sam Seder as Kevin Monteiro *

Callie Thorne Calliope "Callie" Thorne is an American actress known for her role as Dr. Dani Santino on the USA Network series '' Necessary Roughness''. She is also known for past work such as her roles on '' Homicide: Life on the Street'' as Detective Laura ...

as Cricket * Jimmy Tingle as bartender *

Holland Taylor Holland Virginia Taylor (born January 14, 1943) is an American actress. She won the 1999 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama Series for her role as Judge Roberta Kittleson on ABC's ''The Practice'' (1998–2003). ...

as Piper Castleton *

Robert Klein Robert Klein (born February 8, 1942) is an American stand-up comedian, singer, and actor. He is known for his appearances on stage and screen. He has released four standup comedy specials: ''A Child of the 50s'' (1973), ''Mind Over Matter'' (197 ...

as Arty Lesser * H. Jon Benjamin as Eric * Frank L. Ridley as whale watch captain (voice) * Lawrence Gilliard Jr. as Brett

Release

The film, which cost $1 million to make, was an audience favorite at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998. A bidding war among studio distributors resulted in

Miramax Films Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a lead ...

paying $6 million for the film's North American distribution rights. The film grossed only $3.3 million during its theatrical release.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is scored by Claudio Ragazzi with various renditions by Vinicius Cantuaria,

Arto Lindsay Arthur Morgan "Arto" Lindsay (born May 28, 1953) is an American guitarist, singer, record producer and experimental composer. He was a member of the pioneering 1970s no wave group DNA, which featured on the 1978 compilation '' No New York''. I ...

, and

Bebel Gilberto Isabel Buarque de Hollanda Gilberto de Oliveira (born May 12, 1966), known as Bebel Gilberto, is an American-born Brazilian popular singer often associated with bossa nova. She is the daughter of João Gilberto and singer Miúcha. Her uncle i ...

. It was released on

Verve Records Verve Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Founded in 1956 by Norman Granz, the label is home to the world's largest jazz catalogue, which includes recordings by artists such as Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simon ...

Reception

review aggregator A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 73%, based on 45 reviews, and an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Endearing performances create characters you care about". On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, the film has a score of 71 out of a 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Rita Kempley of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' wrote: "It's the individual characters, so carefully crafted, who count, as opposed to a tidy conclusion". ''

Variety Variety may refer to: Arts and entertainment Entertainment formats * Variety (radio) * Variety show, in theater and television Films * ''Variety'' (1925 film), a German silent film directed by Ewald Andre Dupont * ''Variety'' (1935 film), ...

''s

Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...

wrote that ''Next Stop Wonderland'' is "Low on plot but high on charm and personality", adding that " t' a sly, hand-crafted indie that is very alive and attentive to its characters' feelings and foibles". Stephen Holden of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

'' said that "''Next Stop Wonderland'' isn't really much more than a beautifully acted, finely edited

sitcom A sitcom, a portmanteau of situation comedy, or situational comedy, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who mostly carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy, where a troupe may use ...

, but it creates and sustains an intelligent, seriocomic mood better than any recent film about the urban single life".

References

Bibliography

*Gerson, Lisa, , ''

Boston magazine ''Boston'' is a monthly magazine concerning life in the Greater Boston area and has been in publication since 1805. History and profile ''Boston'' magazine was started in 1805. Metrocorp, Inc. bought the magazine in 1970. The company also owns ...

'', July 1998. (archived 1999)

External links

* * * *Bernieri, Laura, , Robbins Entertainment Co. (archived 1999) {{DEFAULTSORT:Next Stop Wonderland 1990s romantic comedy-drama films American independent films American romantic comedy-drama films Films directed by Brad Anderson Films set in Boston Films set in Massachusetts Films shot in Massachusetts Rail transport films 1998 independent films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films