Wonder Wheel – ABC Film Challenge – 2010s Movies – K (Kate Winslet) – Wonder Wheel – Movie Review
Director: Woody Allen
Writer: Woody Allen (Screenplay)
Cast
- Justin Timberlake (Southland Tales)
- Juno Temple (Killing Me Softly)
- Robert C Kirk (The Irishman)
- Kate Winslet (Avatar Way of Water)
- Jim Belushi (Red Heat)
Plot: On Coney Island in the 1950s, a lifeguard tells the story of a middle-aged carousel operator, his beleaguered wife and the visitor who turns their lives upside-down.
Runtime: 1 Hour 41 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: Wonder Wheel starts when Carolina (Temple) moves in with her estranged father Humpty (Belushi) in Coney Island. She has gone into hiding from her husband from the mob. This sees her getting to know her stepmom Ginny (Winslet) who has started her own affair with lifeguard Mickey (Timberlake).
When Ginny starts to get frustrated with her own life, she believes Carolina is trying to get close to Mickey. This leads to her getting more defensive in her life as life gets more complicated for her.
Verdict on Wonder Wheel
Wonder Wheel is a romance story following a summer of interwoven lives around Coney Island. It follows a lonely married woman getting caught up in an affair with a lifeguard while dealing with problems with the children in her life.
This whole movie feels like a tale you might have heard from a friend of a friend that had someone remotely involved in it. There are so many loose ends being left out there, which only makes the story feel more confusing. It feels unfinished, but in a way that is designed to say you only get to hear part of the story. Sadly, this feels like a chapter to a bigger story and never does enough to get us invested.
Final Thoughts – Wonder Wheel feels like a small chapter of bigger story.