 |
  
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
|
Your Gateway to Music and More from a Christian Perspective Slow down as you approach the gate, and have your change ready.... |
| Subscribe
About Us Features News Album
Reviews
|
Finding Forrester (2000) Directed by Gus Van Sant Starring Sean Connery, Robert Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, April Grace, Michael Pitt, Michael Nouri, Richard Easton, Glenn Fitzgerald, Zane R. Copeland Jr., Stephanie Berry, Fly Williams III, James T. Williams, Damany Mathis Good Will Hunting meets J.D. Salinger is probably how the Hollywood pitch meeting started for this adequate but frustrating flick. A brilliant African-American high school student named Jamal (in a breakthrough performance from Rob Brown) stumbles upon a reclusive writer (Sean Connery) in the heart of the Bronx. Though Connery's character is initially crusty (what else), the two forge a friendship based on mutual understanding and love of words. The young man transfers to an exclusive Manhattan prep school where he encounters a progressively more skeptical and hostile teacher (F. Murray Abraham in a wasted role). These two storylines have been beaten to death in Hollywood, and it's frustrating to see director Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) repeating the same tired cliches. It's particularly so since the movie's first 30 minutes are fresh and interesting. There we're introduced to Jamal's circle of friends, a group that rings true in its manner and dialogue, as well as a potential love interest (in a nice performance from Anna Paquin). Unfortunately, those intriguing possibilities and a wonderful jazz score are overshadowed by the film's banal conflict between Jamal and his teacher. Mainstream Hollywood filmmaking at its most conventional, this movie could've been so much better. J. Robert Parks 1/10/2001
|
|
|
|
