Next Stop Wonderland

Next Stop Wonderland is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Brad Anderson, written by Anderson and Lyn Vaus, and starring Hope Davis and Alan Gelfant. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 17, 1998, where it was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize.^[2]

Next Stop Wonderland
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Brad Anderson
Written by	Brad Anderson Lyn Vaus
Produced by	Mitchell Robbins Laura Bernieri Rachael Horovitz
Starring	Hope Davis Alan Gelfant Victor Argo Jon Benjamin Cara Buono Larry Gilliard, Jr. Philip Seymour Hoffman Jason Lewis Roger Rees Sam Seder Robert Stanton Holland Taylor Callie Thorne Jimmy Tingle Lyn Vaus José Zúñiga Robert Klein
Cinematography	Uta Briesewitz
Edited by	Brad Anderson
Music by	Claudio Ragazzi
Production company	Robbins Entertainment
Distributed by	Miramax Films
Release dates	January 17, 1998 (1998-01-17) (Sundance) August 21, 1998 (1998-08-21) (United States)
Running time	104 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	US$1 million[1]
Box office	US$3.47 million[1]

Plot

Two people live unlucky in love in Boston: 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. 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, on the outskirts of Boston.^[3]

Cast

• Hope Davis as Erin Castleton
• Alan Gelfant as Alan Monteiro
• Philip Seymour Hoffman as Sean
• Cara Buono as Julie
• José Zúñiga as Andre de Silva
• Sam Seder as Kevin Monteiro
• Callie Thorne as Cricket
• Jimmy Tingle as bartender
• Holland Taylor as Piper Castleton
• Robert Klein 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,^[1] was an audience favorite at the Sundance Film Festival in 1998. A bidding war among studio distributors resulted in Miramax Films paying $6 million for the film's North American distribution rights.^[4] The film grossed $3.3 million during its theatrical release.^[1]

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack is scored by Claudio Ragazzi with various renditions by Vinicius Cantuaria, Arto Lindsay, and Bebel Gilberto. It was released on Verve Records.^[5]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, 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".^[6] On Metacritic, the film has a score of 71 out of a 100 based on reviews from 19 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[7]

Rita Kempley of The Washington Post wrote: "It's the individual characters, so carefully crafted, who count, as opposed to a tidy conclusion".^[8] Variety's Todd McCarthy wrote that Next Stop Wonderland is "Low on plot but high on charm and personality", adding that "[it']s a sly, hand-crafted indie that is very alive and attentive to its characters' feelings and foibles".^[3] Stephen Holden of The New York Times said that "Next Stop Wonderland isn't really much more than a beautifully acted, finely edited sitcom, but it creates and sustains an intelligent, seriocomic mood better than any recent film about the urban single life".^[9]