Wonderland (1999)

63% of critics liked it
(70 reviews)
81% of users liked it
(3,030 ratings)

The members of a British working-class family see their lives starting to come apart as the Nation prepares to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (named for an anarchist who tried to blow up Parliament) in Michael Winterbottom's drama Wonderland. Eileen (Kika Markham) and Bill (Jack Shepherd) are a married… More The members of a British working-class family see their lives starting to come apart as the Nation prepares to celebrate Guy Fawkes Day (named for an anarchist who tried to blow up Parliament) in Michael Winterbottom's drama Wonderland. Eileen (Kika Markham) and Bill (Jack Shepherd) are a married couple with four grown children. Bill has lost his job and is drifting through life, unsure of what to do. He's also having sexual problems with Eileen, who is being driven insane by their noisy neighbors. Neither Bill nor Eileen have seen their son Darren (Enzo Cilenti) for a long time, and his birthday is a heartbreaking experience for them. (Darren, on the other hand, would prefer to celebrate his birthday by spending the night in a hotel with his girlfriend rather than seeing his parents.) Bill and Eileen also have three daughters, Nadia (Gina McKee), Debbie (Shirley Henderson) and Molly (Molly Parker). Nadia works in a cafe and has trouble meeting men; she's signed up with a dating agency, but has yet to meet anyone she likes. Debbie is suddenly a single mother after separating from her drunken lout of a husband. Debbie drowns her sorrows in a series of meaningless one-night-stands, while her husband flies into uncontrollable rages and their son is left with no one to turn to on either side. And while Molly's story seems happy on the surface -- she's soon to give birth to her first child and her husband has done well in kitchen sales -- she's suddenly thrown into instability when she finds her husband has quit his job, without telling her, to follow his dream of becoming a chef. Wonderland received enthusiastic reviews for its ensemble cast when shown at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 48 min.
Directed By: Michael Winterbottom
Written By: Laurence Coriat
Genres: Art House & International, Drama

In Theaters: Jul 28, 2000 Limited
On DVD: Mar 6, 2001
Studio: USA Films

Critic Reviews

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Wonderland is well crafted from the editing to the acting, but it often feels like a television pilot for a calculatedly hip soap opera.
David Hunter, Hollywood Reporter
The film's realistic approach to storytelling and the strong performances mesh well with Winterbottom's stylistic flourishes.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It becomes one of those movies that hurt so good.
Jay Carr, Boston Globe
It's lively soap opera, ratcheting up the intensity with freshness and immediacy.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Winterbottom and his cast make the characters' individual journeys involving and rewarding.
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
We've frankly heard it all before.
Matt Pais, The Cinema Source
Might have done a better job of getting inside Holmes' head by also getting in his pants.
Eric Lurio, Greenwich Village Gazette
These are just a bunch of junkies killing each other and the aftermath.

Read all 8 critic reviews

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Fresh (60% or more critics rated the movie positively)

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Featured Audience Ratings

Cassandra M

caught this on TV without knowing who it was by and I was instantly captivated. The first thing is that it's filmed and set where I live, around the Elephant and Castle and Walworth Road, and it's about the people I see every day. It's absolutely spot on about the kind… More
caught this on TV without knowing who it was by and I was instantly captivated. The first thing is that it's filmed and set where I live, around the Elephant and Castle and Walworth Road, and it's about the people I see every day. It's absolutely spot on about the kind of lives people around here lead and the way individuals and different social groups interact. What lifts it above the sort of social realism common in British cinema is the cutting, the cinematography and Michael Nyman's lovely music, which must be his best work post-Greenaway. While I've never been a big fan of the 'poetry of degradation' school of art, somehow the ugliness and squalor of South East London are transformed by this film and the lives of the characters are invested with real dignity. Though it may deal with the same sort of subject matter as Ken Loach or Mike Leigh, the style and approach are very different - the difference between a great piece of prose and a poem. I guess you could say Winterbottom and Nyman do for London what Scorsese and Herrmann did for New York in Mean Streets and Taxi Driver. This is a beautiful film and I feel real gratitude to Michael Winterbottom for bringing our lives to the screen in such a way.
Leo L

Good movie. An interesting story plot.