Wonder Wheel: Quotes and Notes

Justin Timberlake plays Mickey Rubin in “Wonder Wheel,” a 2017 film that’s available on Amazon Prime. Mickey is a lifeguard who works on Bay 7 on Coney Island in the summer. He studies at NYU, going for his Masters in European drama and is the sometimes narrator of the film:

Justin Timberlake as Mickey Rubin in “Wonder Wheel”

Mickey: “I’m Mickey Rubin. Poetic by nature. I harbor dreams of being a writer. A writer of truly great plays, so I can one day surprise everyone and turn out a profound masterpiece.”

Mickey meets Ginny on the beach when lightning storms are expected and the beach has to be cleared. He noticed her because “her body language read vulnerable and desperate.” Ginny is an unhappy woman. A former actress, she feels trapped in her marriage, she hates her waitress job and she doesn’t know how to deal with her disturbed fire-starting child, Richie.

Kate Winslet as Ginny in “Wonder Wheel”

Ginny agrees to meet Mickey again. They discuss his stint in the Navy and the plays he plans to write, leading Ginny to reveal a little of her inner turmoil.

Ginny: “Do you always think a person’s tragedy is their own fault?
Mickey: “No. Fate plays a big role.”
Ginny: “I brought my troubles on myself”
Mickey: “Yeah, I guessed that when I saw you. I thought she’s very pretty but somewhere there’s a tragic flaw.”
Ginny: “I ruined my life by being unfaithful once and now I’m doing it again.”
Mickey: “You brought about your own downfall by being unfaithful?”

Later, knowing she will take her attraction to Mickey to another level, Ginny practices in the mirror how to tell him a few things:

Ginny: “I wanna be honest with you, Mickey, I’m a married woman. I’m married, Mickey. I felt strange mentioning it, not that you asked. I got myself into a bad situation. I got myself– I got myself into a bad situation. You’re right. I had notions about ending everything. I thought about drowning. Course, with a kid that’s not an option. Besides, you’d have dived in and ruined my dramatic finale. Feel trapped. Feel trapped.”

When she sees him, she just tells him that she is married and he says she’s not the first married woman he’s found attractive. She has another confession:

Ginny: “I’m not 35. I’m 38. I’m 39.”
Mickey: “Well, that’s a very hot age for a woman. I’m a very lucky guy.”

Jim Belushi as Humpty in “Wonder Wheel”

Humpty is Ginny’s husband. He has a drinking problem that he sort of has under control but that’s another thing Ginny resents: she can’t have a drink because he can’t. Humpty disowned his daughter, Carolina, after she ran off with a mobster. Now she is back with no other place to go. The mob is after her because she talked to the FBI about them. After Humpty gets his beef with Carolina off his chest, he has a change of heart and wants her to work and go to night school to fulfill her early promise.

Juno Temple as Carolina in “Wonder Wheel”

Ginny gets Carolina a job at Ruby’s Clam House and introduces her to Mickey on the boardwalk. Later, Carolina talks to Mickey on the beach. He flirts with her and gives her a book to read. Carolina is attracted to Mickey and vice versa, but of course, she doesn’t know about him and Ginny and she seeks Ginny’s counsel. Ginny tries to dissuade both of them from pursuing a relationship. Mickey talks it over with a friend. Despite his decision that it would be wiser to stick with Ginny, he sees Carolina caught in the rain and offers her a ride to work. She tells him about her situation:

Carolina: “I knew what was going on but you look the other way when your husband’s hot stuff and 6 million woman are after him. But he wants you. And it’s all jewelry and furs and Florida and the racetrack and the Copa and the roulette wheel and Cuba.”
Mickey: “Wow, you’ve really lived a life.”
Carolina: “It was great, until it wasn’t.”
Carolina: “You’ve been round the world.”
Mickey: “Yeah, but you’ve been around the block…”

Jack Gore as Richie in “Wonder Wheel”

Richie is Ginny’s son from the relationship she destroyed. Richie hates Humpty, likes to pick his pockets and he likes to set fires. His importance in the film escapes me, really, other than to show a kid with serious problems who is never going to get the help he needs, but I did recognize the young actor, Jack Gore. He is currently appearing in the Showtime series “Billions” as one of Bobby Axelrod’s kids.

aka Bobby Baccalieri and Paulie Walnuts

Two goombas from The Sopranos, Steve Schirripa and Tony Sirico, play the mobsters looking for Carolina. In this scene, they are talking about going in Ruby’s Clam House for some oysters, not knowing Carolina is in there working. But that might make them late for an appointment in Hoboken with her ex, so they split.

The “love that cannot be” part of the story is in itself timeless, in my opinion. (In fact, the next film I watched after this was 1945’s “Conflict” with Humphrey Bogart falling in love with his sister-in-law.) So if you like that kind of story, you’ll like this and the acting, especially the ladies, isn’t bad at all.