After the major success of his debut film, BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE, Director Paul Mazursky found himself struggling as to what subject to do next. More or less, that's what his lead character, Alex Morrison (Donald Sutherland), is going through here. A transplanted New Yorker, Alex is surrounded by hippies, free spirits and studio execs who are trying to figure out their way in the "New Hollywood".
So who does Alex/Mazursky turn to for inspiration? Federico Fellini. His 8 1/2 to be specific. Less than 7 years after Fellini's masterpiece, Mazursky's ALEX IN WONDERLAND is perhaps the first major film to be directly inspired by it (and far from the last, as 2022's spate of autobiographical movies clearly showed). Give Mazursky credit, he not only name-checks 8 1/2, but has the guts/gall to include a scene where Alex meets the maestro! Call it Mazursky's 1 1/2. Jeanne Moreau also shows up as herself in a strange sequence which may infer that she is something akin to Claudia Cardinale's role in 8 1/2.
Unfortunately, that homage trivia aside, the screenplay which Mazursky and Phil Tucker co-wrote, never stands its own ground. Alex is an egotistical and largely unsympathetic character who spouts platitudes, hassles his wife (Ellen Burstyn; saddled with a drippy role) and mother (Viola Spolin) and isn't the finest father to his two daughters (including Mazursky's own child, Meg). His search for truth and meaning are as meaty as a dish of "alfalfa sprouts and mashed yeast"* at the Sunset Strip's The Source restaurant where Alex dines.
The best scene is between Alex and a hotshot studio bigwig, Hal Stern (played by Mazursky himself). Stern is so gung ho about getting the new auteur to make a film with him that he offers him a trip to Europe just to read a book he has the rights to! Sutherland does what he can with the thin screenplay, but far too much of the screen-time is taken up by the most mundane of observations (one hesitates to actually deem them "insights').
ALEX IN WONDERLAND is more dull than its negative reputation would have it. It's only truly "bad" the more it tries to ape Fellini (the airport scene, the Hollywood Boulevard fantasia and a truly cringe-worthy black power dance at the beach). Creating one's own phantasmagoria isn't as easy as it looks -- although Laszlo Kovac's cinematography is quite good . Conversely, these "bad" scenes are also the film's most lively and perversely entertaining!
Mazursky should have "paid homage" to Fellini one more time and lifted something from his oeuvre for an ending. ALEX IN WONDERLAND really doesn't have one. It just stops**.
Mazursky rebounded well from this disappointment with BLUME IN LOVE and HARRY AND TONTO immediately afterwards, and had a fine career of his own.
* Alex eats there in the film. That menu item is from Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL, of course (also filmed at The Source).
** Angelenos will find it amusing that a classic house in a good L. A. neighborhood could be had for $89K dollars -- and, that's DOWN from the original asking price of $200K!
So who does Alex/Mazursky turn to for inspiration? Federico Fellini. His 8 1/2 to be specific. Less than 7 years after Fellini's masterpiece, Mazursky's ALEX IN WONDERLAND is perhaps the first major film to be directly inspired by it (and far from the last, as 2022's spate of autobiographical movies clearly showed). Give Mazursky credit, he not only name-checks 8 1/2, but has the guts/gall to include a scene where Alex meets the maestro! Call it Mazursky's 1 1/2. Jeanne Moreau also shows up as herself in a strange sequence which may infer that she is something akin to Claudia Cardinale's role in 8 1/2.
Unfortunately, that homage trivia aside, the screenplay which Mazursky and Phil Tucker co-wrote, never stands its own ground. Alex is an egotistical and largely unsympathetic character who spouts platitudes, hassles his wife (Ellen Burstyn; saddled with a drippy role) and mother (Viola Spolin) and isn't the finest father to his two daughters (including Mazursky's own child, Meg). His search for truth and meaning are as meaty as a dish of "alfalfa sprouts and mashed yeast"* at the Sunset Strip's The Source restaurant where Alex dines.
The best scene is between Alex and a hotshot studio bigwig, Hal Stern (played by Mazursky himself). Stern is so gung ho about getting the new auteur to make a film with him that he offers him a trip to Europe just to read a book he has the rights to! Sutherland does what he can with the thin screenplay, but far too much of the screen-time is taken up by the most mundane of observations (one hesitates to actually deem them "insights').
ALEX IN WONDERLAND is more dull than its negative reputation would have it. It's only truly "bad" the more it tries to ape Fellini (the airport scene, the Hollywood Boulevard fantasia and a truly cringe-worthy black power dance at the beach). Creating one's own phantasmagoria isn't as easy as it looks -- although Laszlo Kovac's cinematography is quite good . Conversely, these "bad" scenes are also the film's most lively and perversely entertaining!
Mazursky should have "paid homage" to Fellini one more time and lifted something from his oeuvre for an ending. ALEX IN WONDERLAND really doesn't have one. It just stops**.
Mazursky rebounded well from this disappointment with BLUME IN LOVE and HARRY AND TONTO immediately afterwards, and had a fine career of his own.
* Alex eats there in the film. That menu item is from Woody Allen's ANNIE HALL, of course (also filmed at The Source).
** Angelenos will find it amusing that a classic house in a good L. A. neighborhood could be had for $89K dollars -- and, that's DOWN from the original asking price of $200K!