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Finding Forrester (2000)
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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
Reviews for Finding Forrester
plays...in broad stokes that are not meant to challenge, but rather to reassure that, despite all its troubles, all will be right in the world eventually
Screenwriter Rich makes the unlikely pairing of a black kid from the Bronx and a curmudgeonly Scot -- linked only by their love of language -- more believable and endearing as the movie goes on.
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.
To dismiss Finding Forrester as just a rehash of Good Will Hunting is not entirely fair.
If "Good Will Hunting" and "Scent of a Woman" were to meet some moonlit night, consummate and make a child, "Finding Forester" would be their adolescent son.
Despite being unoriginal, the movie is polished and intelligent, and there's no denying it pleases the crowds.
Though it is every bit as polished and powerful as Good Will Hunting, Finding Forrester suffers because of the obvious comparisons in subject matter and approach.
A well-made story that has echoes of just about every inspirational education movie you've ever seen.
A rewarding exploration of the knotty and often contentious relationship between teacher and protege. Its chief pleasure is the master class in the art of acting delivered by Sean Connery.
This is pure formula -- and practically identical to the story arc of Good Will Hunting -- but Van Sant keeps things just off-kilter enough to make it compelling anyway.
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