WONDERFUL WORLD is simply wonderful. It’s a little great movie with a story that may be familiar but it has its own heart, laugh, tears, and melody. Matthew Broderick’s self-pity performance as a has-been musician may not be as powerful as Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart but Broderick brings his own calming yet irritating senses to his character. In a world where… everything seems to be controlled by ‘the man’, this little movie-that-can will make you smile in the belief that as long as you have the mindset, the world ain’t such a bad place after all.
Ben Singer (Matthew Broderick) is a failed children’s folk singer, a career proofreader, a compulsive marijuana smoker, and a less-than-extraordinary weekend dad. He’s also the most negative man alive. Floundering in all aspects of his life, Ben’s only comfort comes from regular chess games and friendly debates on game theory with his Senegalese roommate Ibou (Michael Kenneth Williams). When Ibou is suddenly struck ill, and an insensitive municipal employee exacerbates the emergency situation, Ben’s pessimistic worldview seems unequivocally confirmed. His only recourse is to pour his energies into a frivolous lawsuit against the city for depraved indifference. But Ben soon finds that cynicism may be all a matter of perspective.
Matthew Broderick’s character Ben Singer may well be one of the most negative-minded characters you’ve ever seen on screen. He’s not as grumpy and hateful as Scrooge, he’s not much of a No-Man like Jim Carrey in Yes Man, but Singer is like an every day guy, your next door neighbor who blames all his misfortune on ‘The Man’ and how the world works itself for your disadvantage. Like watching The Coen Bros.’ A Serious Man, at times you’d feel sorry of the way people treat Singer. The difference is Singer complains every so often. Broderick, with his unshaven look and the big frown on his face, is excellent in that he lets us see this man who used to… used to be somebody, a children’s folk singer. Not realizing that his downing attitude is affecting and discouraging his daughter who still wants to see some hope around her.
For the first half of the movie, he wouldn’t wanna share why he acts the way he does but then eventually he lets out his frustration, in such mild manner in a courtroom scene and it kinda makes sense.. It’s easy to be drawn into the same mentality and become a pessimist too after hearing his argument.
You make a CD and if it doesn’t sell, they toss your ass out into the streets, people think a movie is only as good as box office money it earns. But just like ‘The Man’ says itself, if you take money out of the equation, what would you want your life to be about? Themes like this is what makes WONDERFUL WORLD one of the most overlooked, under-appreciated films I’ve seen in a long time.
After Diminished Capacity and Finding Amanda, you begin to wonder why Matthew Broderick keeps finding himself in low budget movies like this that won’t get a wide release and will only be seen by a few audiences. I think Broderick has found where he’s comfortable in, the kind of gig that will allow him to be himself without much getting much pressure or expectations along the way. Marvelous supporting cast as well, by Sanaa Lathan and Michael Williams, a brilliant character actor most famous for his role Omar in The Wire series.
The story is surprisingly clever and very well-structured. The epiphany moment is somewhat reminiscent of Magnolia, I’m not saying both are the same deal but WONDERFUL WORLD makes a compelling case with the few elements that it’s got to work with.
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