Mr. Wonderful 1993

     Electrician Gus gets the chance to fulfill a childhood dream by buying an old bowling-alley with some of his friends.  Unfortunately, due to the alimony payments he has to make to his ex-wife Leonora, the bank refuses to loan him the down payment.  Knowing that when she marries again she loses her alimony rights, Gus tries to speed things up by bringing Leonora together with all the potential husbands he can find.  Although this approach isn't very successful, it awakens feelings in both of them they didn't know they still had.     

     To believe in the scheme Gus has going on and Lee’s willingness to go along with it is a strain on audience intelligence?   Vincent d’Onofrio, Brooke Smith and Bruce Kirby are especially fine in smaller roles.  But, they have to play this nonsense as if it really made sense?  Without a lot of cast effort and Dillon’s easy charm, Mr. Wonderful could easily be mistaken for Mr. Potatohead instead!!

     Mr. Wonderful is not a dynamic film by any means but it is a semi-sweet, semi-love story with adequate performances.  In spite of the film’s romantic promise, it is clouded by sexual involvement outside of marriage.  It does show but unintentionally, how shallow such involvement is and how it destroys trust and undermines true intimacy.  Without this element, as well as some frank sexual discourse and a few obscenities, this film could be a very pleasant and enjoyable selection. Too bad it is not!!  3* (This movie is OK)

Note:  Imdb 5.9* out of 10* with 3135 reviews, Rotten Tomatoes 52% with 21 critic reviews 43% with 2,500+ audience scores, Letterboxd 2.8* out of 5*, 1 1/2* Roger Ebert, movieguide.org language moderate, violence none, sex light, nudity, light, Mr. Wonderful 4.7* out of 5* with 312 reviews.  

Special Note:  Actress Annabella Sciorra would later play James Gandolfini’s love interest for 7 episodes on The Sopranos (1999).  Bruce Altman and Fran Pellegrinow would also appear on The Sopranos.  

Mistakes:  As a hired public-works servicemen, Gus and his co-worker would have been wearing OSHA-approved safety-goggles when servicing the fuse-bank, since there were such large sparks present?  The bright-sparking flash that represents electrical-arcing and it only occurs after Gus completely removes the fuse.  There would only be a spark during the actual "removal moment" while the fuse was in the act of breaking the electrical circuit.