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Movies / On DVD / Finding Forrester
Finding Forrester

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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

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Reviews for Finding Forrester

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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

A buddy movie low on sugar and sentiment. What a relief.

Full Review Source: IFilm | comment Comment
12/20/00
Dave White
Dave White
IFilm

A lot more intriguing than it might have been.

comment Comment
12/20/00
Robert Horton
Robert Horton
Film.com

Director Gus Van Sant does a solid job of keeping the film simple and personal even if all paths lead to a predictable (but satisfying) end.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
12/19/00
E! Online
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Connery gives an energetic (if not especially subtle) and mostly convincing performance, and enjoys remarkable chemistry with terrific first-time actor Rob Brown.

Full Review Source: New York Post | comment Comment
12/19/00
Jonathan Foreman
Jonathan Foreman
New York Post

A mishmash of recent films.

Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
12/19/00
Eric Lurio
Eric Lurio
Greenwich Village Gazette

At times you can feel Van Sant trying to loosen the movie's windpipe-folding collar, but he doesn't get far, except with Busta Rhymes, as Jamal's gone-nowhere big brother, whose moments are so full of bounce and warmth they feel like invasions from the sc

Full Review Source: Village Voice | comment Comment
12/19/00
Michael Atkinson
Michael Atkinson
Village Voice

Is aimed squarely at everyone who loved Good Will Hunting...it's the same only different -- the very definition of formula fiction.

Full Review Source: TV Guide's Movie Guide | comment Comment
12/19/00
Maitland McDonagh
Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide's Movie Guide

Finding Forrester is 100 percent bogus, from its high-concept characters whose resemblance to real human beings is distant at best, to the 'lessons' it imparts on everything from courtship to writing.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
12/19/00
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Like its protagonist, Finding Forrester got game.

Full Review Source: Mr. Showbiz | comment Comment
12/19/00
Cody Clark
Cody Clark
Mr. Showbiz

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 takes the standard cliché of a mentor relationship, and makes it real.

Full Review Source: Trades | comment Comment
12/19/00
Alex Keen
Alex Keen
Trades

There is a smooth, practiced charm to all of this, but, even with Connery fulminating for all he's worth, it wears thin.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/19/00
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The film is so finely crafted that you don't really care that you've seen it (and not all that long ago) before.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
12/19/00
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

Generally, the movie aspires to be something more, but its retreaded dialog keeps getting in the way.

Full Review Source: Internet Reviews | comment Comment
12/18/00
Steve Rhodes
Steve Rhodes
Internet Reviews

When either or both [Connery and Brown] are on screen, you can almost forget that these entertaining performances serve such a pat, predictable story.

Full Review Source: Hollywood Reporter | comment Comment
12/18/00
Kirk Honeycutt
Kirk Honeycutt
Hollywood Reporter
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

When was the last time a Hollywood movie portrayed the acts of reading and writing in such a gratifying and fulfilling way that it made you want to read a real book rather than an 'airport' bestseller?

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/18/00
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
Variety
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Its unhurried exploration of the interaction between the two leads is worth spending a couple hours in a movie theater.

Full Review Source: ReelViews | comment Comment
12/18/00
James Berardinelli
James Berardinelli
ReelViews

The picture's played with a disarming looseness that makes even its most predictable patches endurable.

Full Review Source: One Guy's Opinion | comment Comment
12/18/00
Frank Swietek
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion

Handled deftly by Van Sant, who holds out on sentimentality for as long as possible.

Full Review Source: Matinee Magazine | comment Comment
12/18/00
Chuck Rudolph
Chuck Rudolph
Matinee Magazine

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
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; 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...

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