''Mr. Wonderful'' is a 1993 American

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

film directed by

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

-winning director

Anthony Minghella Anthony Minghella, (6 January 195418 March 2008) was a British film director, playwright and screenwriter. He was chairman of the board of Governors at the British Film Institute between 2003 and 2007. He won the Academy Award for Best Directo ...

. The film stars Matt Dillon,

Annabella Sciorra Annabella Gloria Philomena Sciorra ( , ; born March 29, 1960) is an American actress. She came to prominence with her film debut in '' True Love'' (1989), earning an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Female Lead. Subsequent projects include ...

Mary-Louise Parker Mary-Louise Parker (born August 2, 1964) is an American actress. After making her Broadway debut as Rita in Craig Lucas' '' Prelude to a Kiss'' in 1990 (for which she received a Tony Award nomination), Parker came to prominence for film roles i ...

William Hurt William McChord Hurt (March 20, 1950 – March 13, 2022) was an American actor. Known for his performances on stage and screen, he received various awards including an Academy Award, BAFTA Award and Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor. H ...

and

Vincent D'Onofrio Vincent Philip D'Onofrio (; born June 30, 1959) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his supporting and leading roles in both film and television. He has been nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award. His roles include Private Leonar ...

Plot

Gus DeMarco, an electrician, wants to purchase a bowling alley with his friends. The problem is that he still pays

alimony Alimony, also called aliment (Scotland), maintenance (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Wales, Canada, New Zealand), spousal support (U.S., Canada) and spouse maintenance (Australia), is a legal obligation on a person to provide financial sup ...

to his ex-wife, Leonora. Gus realizes that if Leonora remarries, he can stop paying alimony, and attempts to match Leonora with various men. Lenora has several would-be suitors, including one who upsets her because he is pushy, so she goes to complain to Gus about it. Afterwards, she has him to dinner. As he is leaving, her professor boyfriend Tom shows up directly after, upsetting Gus. In the course of his match-making, Gus' girlfriend, Rita breaks up with him on the day they were meant to move in together. She feels he's still in love with his ex. One day, his workmate describes to him how being in love makes him feel. It inspires him to find Leonora but, seeing her in the botanical garden with Dominic stops him in his tracks. A while later, on a job, Gus gets electrocuted while saving a workmate. Leonora, similarly to him, realizes she still has feelings for him when she sees him in the hospital. Rita, as she works there, is at his sleeping side, so Leonora leaves without talking to him. Once he's out, she visits him at his apartment. She had ended things with the professor, and she lets him know Dominic asked her to marry him. In the end, Gus and Leonora discover that they still care about each other.

Cast

Reception

Critical reception

The film received mixed reviews. It holds a 52% rating on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 21 reviews, with an average rating of 5.8/10. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Box office

The film was not a box office success.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mister Wonderful (film) 1993 films 1993 romantic comedy films American romantic comedy films Films directed by Anthony Minghella Films shot in New York City Warner Bros. films The Samuel Goldwyn Company films 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language romantic comedy films