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Wonderful World

(No longer in theaters)

Rating: R — for language, some drug use and sexual content
Director: Joshua Goldin Cast: Matthew Broderick, Sanaa Lathan, Michael K. Williams, Jodelle Ferland, Philip Baker Hall
Running Time: 95 minutes
Reader Rating: Write a Review

Rate & Review

Genre

Drama

Producer

Glenn Williamson, Matt Leutwyler, Miranda Bailey

Distributor

Magnolia Pictures

Release Date

Jan 8, 2010

Release Notes

Limited

Official Website

www.wonderfulworldfilm.com

Review

Joshua Goldin’s debut feature, Wonderful World, is a thesis drama, which means it comes to a philosophical pointï¿½which further means it’s easy to dismiss as too messagey. But its thesis isn’t pat. It doesn’t reduce its characters’ motivesï¿½it illuminates their contradictions. Matthew Broderick plays Ben Singer, a former musician (he made records for kids) who’s soured on the business and burned his bridges. Poor, divorced, working as a proofreader, he sees a culture that caters to people’s worst instincts, a culture he wants no part of. His negativity has infected his young daughter (Jodelle Ferland) to the point where she hides from him; his ex-wife (Ally Walker) says, ï¿½She still wants to think the world is a nice place.ï¿½ Only Ben’s Senegalese flatmate Ibu (Michael K. Williams) offers a convincing counterargument. Over chess games he invariably wins, he talks about game theory, and its suggestion that people can act in ways both opportunistic and moral.

Game theory, at least as articulated here, is a pretty good way to approach the world without becoming either a spokesman for mindless positive thinking or a David Mametï¿½like cynic given to parables of betrayal and one-upmanship. And it’s a great way to survive Hollywood. When Ibu goes into a diabetic coma and his sister (Sanaa Lathan) arrives from Senegal, Ben falls in love and mounts a vindictive lawsuit against the city. Like a child, he both overidealizes and overblames. What’s fascinating about Broderick is how quickly he went from the can-do juvenile of WarGames and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off to the sad-sack embodiment of middle-aged defeat. But maybe he was so inspiring in his youth because you could glimpse the future worrywart. His rapport with Ferland is remarkableï¿½and so is she, her confusion about what to make of the dad she loves right on the surface.

A lot of Wonderful World doesn’t jell, and Williams, who played Omar on The Wire, sports an accent so convincing you get only every third wordï¿½although maybe that’s a plus, considering his didactic lines. But the movie is unfailingly likable and finally impressive. Goldin doesn’t settle for easy answers, and he makes you think that no one should. — David Edelstein