RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Finding Forrester
Finding Forrester

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
  • Visit Official Site External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Finding Forrester (2000)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
74 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:121

Fresh:89

Rotten:32

Average Rating:6.5/10

Consensus: Despite the predictability of its plot and its similarity to Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester has an honest, solid feel to it and good rapport between Connery and Brown.

Runtime: 2 hrs 16 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Director Gus Van Sant brings to the screen this moving story of a grizzled recluse and an inner-city teenager brought together by their shared passion for writing. Like Van Sant's Oscar-nominated... Director Gus Van Sant brings to the screen this moving story of a grizzled recluse and an inner-city teenager brought together by their shared passion for writing. Like Van Sant's Oscar-nominated GOOD WILL HUNTING, FINDING FORRESTER earnestly explores the struggles of a youthful genius whose position in society (underprivileged kid from the wrong side of the tracks) makes him seem destined for failure until he forms a relationship with a gifted but introverted mentor who helps him see the light.The youthful genius is a talented urban basketball player named Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown), who in his spare time reads everything he can get his hands on, secretly scribbling prose and poetry into a composition pad. The introverted mentor is William Forrester (Sean Connery), who took the literary world by storm with his debut novel, AVALON RISING, 50 years earlier but now spends whole days shut inside his Bronx apartment looking out the window onto a basketball court where Jamal hangs out. Buoyed by excellent performances from Connery and newcomer Brown, FINDING FORRESTER paints a compelling, alluring portrait of friendship while offering intriguing insights into the heart and soul of the dedicated writer. [More]

Starring: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, Anna Paquin, F. Murray Abraham

Starring: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, Anna Paquin, F. Murray Abraham, Busta Rhymes, Michael Nouri, Tom Mullica, Lil' Zane

Director: Gus Van Sant

Director: Gus Van Sant
Screenwriter: Mike Rich
Producer: Laurence Mark, Sean Connery, Rhonda Tollefson
Studio: Columbia Pictures

[See More Credits]

  • Trailers
  • Pictures
1 - 5 of 10

See More Movie Trailers & Pictures

Reviews for Finding Forrester

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Rather hollow effort.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
03/25/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The leaden screenplay can be fingered for many of the film's faults. But what happened to the off-kilter film-maker last seen at work in To Die For?

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment 1 Comment
01/26/06
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

All signs of intelligent life are sacrificed to Hollywood formula and liberal wish-fulfilment.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment Comment
12/15/03
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

Over-long and underwritten drama with too many shades of Good Will Hunting.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
10/30/02
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Hollywood films have a tendency to fall apart in the final reel (due to studio pressures and those notorious audience preview comments), but we hoped Van Sant would avoid this pitfall. Alas.

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
12/10/01
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Although it's familiar territory, Van Sant gives the material a new spin and the result is off-beat, low-key and guaranteed to lift spirits with its easy charm.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/23/01
Caroline Westbrook
Caroline Westbrook
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Finding Forrester is an easy watch with just enough of a feeling of prestige and respectability about it to please serious moviegoers.

Full Review Source: UK Critic | comment Comment
05/07/01
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
Ian Waldron-Mantgani
UK Critic

An intelligent, subtle, in short remarkable take on growing up, being true to yourself and fighting the odds.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/16/01
Michael Thomson
Michael Thomson
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
10/18/08
Ebert & Roeper
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment Comment
09/04/01
Glenn Kenny
Glenn Kenny
Premiere Magazine
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
02/07/01
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
03/30/01
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
02/17/03
Hollywood.com
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A movie about two writers, but it doesn't seem to have a clue about why writers write or about how writers write.

Full Review Source: culturevulture.net | comment Comment
12/19/00
Arthur Lazere
Arthur Lazere
culturevulture.net

It seems that this script was put through the ‘Hollywood wringer’ far too many times – squeezing out any real sense that it might be something different.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
02/07/01
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

While Finding Forrester is an average film that earns my average rating, the real disappointment is its ultimately disheartening theme that makes you wonder how it ever got made.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
12/14/00
Christopher Null
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com

The problem is that viewers will have no trouble predicting most every turn along the way.

Full Review Source: Nitrate Online | comment Comment
12/28/00
Cynthia Fuchs
Cynthia Fuchs
Nitrate Online

Its intentions are honorable, but its portrait of youth, urban, academic and literary culture is Mesozoic.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
12/24/00
Duane Dudek
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by rotten rating; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
all

Latest News for Finding Forrester

March 16, 2007: The Weekly Ketchup: "Spider-Man" Sans Tobey Maguire(?), "Transformers," "Superman Returns" Sequel, And More!
In this week's Ketchup, producer Avi Arad talks "Spider-Man"'s future, with or without Tobey Maguire, Shia LaBeouf explains how "Transformers" avoided an R... More...

March 17, 2006: New Line's "Nativity" Nabs Whale Rider
New Line Cinema is venturing into Biblical territory with "Nativity," a baby Jesus prequel, to star "Whale Rider" ingenue Keisha Castle-Hughes. More...

November 11, 2005: Sean Connery Earns AFI's Highest Honor
Thanks to ComingSoon.net for sharing a press release from the American Film Institute: Sir Sean Connery has been selected by the American Film Institute's (AFI) Board of... More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
36% 36% Angels & Demons
25% 25% Four Christmases
68% 68% Funny People
95% 95% Star Trek
14% 14% The Ugly Truth

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
83% 83% Harry Potter and the H…
67% 67% Public Enemies
75% 75% Julie & Julia
95% 95% The Cove
85% 85% World's Greatest Dad

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • The Twilight Saga: Eclipse Headed for IMAX Source: Collider.com
12
  • James Cameron Developing Sci-Fi Film for Fox Source: ComingSoon.net
2
  • Peter Jackson Reveals Which LotR Characters Will Return for The Hobbit Source: MTV
11
  • Josh Brolin Rumored for Men in Black 3 Source: Los Angeles Times
10
  • Malkovich and Hathaway Rumored for Spider-Man 4 Source: Movieline
68
  • Avatar Picks Up Golden Globes Buzz Source: HitFix
66
  • Disney's Upcoming Hand-Drawn Movies Revealed Source: Slashfilm
21
  • Cameron Explains Blue Avatar Aliens Source: MTV
37
  • Matt Damon Expects Greengrass to Return for Fourth Bourne Source: Collider.com
10
  • Burton's Dark Shadows Rising in 2010 Source: Sci Fi Wire
12
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Five Favorite Films with Jason Reitman
57
  • Critics Consensus: Everybody's Fine Is Just OK
50
  • Total Recall: Keith David's Best Movies
48
  • 10 Horrifically Profitable Films
46
  • Five Favorite Films With Avatar's Sam Worthington
45
  • Sundance 2010: RT's 10 Most Anticipated Movies
41
  • Weekly Ketchup: Tron Team to Remake The Black Hole
37
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: The Blind Side Takes the Lead
29
  • Awards Tour: National Board of Review Winners List!
28
  • Friday Harvest: Iron Man 2, Harry Potter, and more!
24
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • Five Favorite Films With Avatar's Sam Worthington
45
  • Director Ruben Fleischer Talks Zombieland
2
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
12
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
23
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
22
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Finding Forrester at Rotten Tomatoes
  • Finding Forrester at IGN
  • Finding Forrester at AskMen

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.