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MOVIES / ON DVD / HARVARD MAN
Harvard Man

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Harvard Man (2002)

33%
75%
23%
N/A
N/A
N/A
33 %
Reviews Counted: 36 Fresh: 12  Rotten:24 Average Rating: 4.6/10
 
Consensus: Harvard Man is a pretentious, incoherent mess.
 

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 1 hr 40 mins

Synopsis: This innovative drama from writer and director James Toback (BUGSY, BLACK AND WHITE) follows the travails of Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier), a Harvard student determined to live life to the fullest and find the ultimate truth. He gets high regularly, and is sleeping with Holy Cross... This innovative drama from writer and director James Toback (BUGSY, BLACK AND WHITE) follows the travails of Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier), a Harvard student determined to live life to the fullest and find the ultimate truth. He gets high regularly, and is sleeping with Holy Cross cheerleader Cindy Bandolini (Sarah Michelle Gellar), who also happens to be a mobster's daughter. Simultaneously, Alan is carrying on an illicit affair with his philosophy professor, Chesney Cort (Joey Lauren Adams), a woman with a vast sexual appetite. When his parents lose their Kansas home in a tornado, Alan is desperate to help them financially. He turns to Cindy's father for a loan and is soon entrenched in a high-stakes gambling scheme. But all is not as it seems and Alan soon finds himself in over his head with many aspects of his life: his drug use, the women in his life, and even the FBI. Grenier is endearing as the truth-seeking Alan, and as a tough-talking Mafia princess, Gellar steps far away from her television persona as Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Eric Stoltz and Rebecca Gayheart lend their talents in supporting roles that add to the film's twisting storyline. [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Adrian Grenier, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Eric Stoltz, Rebecca Gayheart, Joey Lauren Adams

Director: James Toback
Screenwriter: James Toback
Producer: Michael Mailer, Daniel Bigel

DVD Info

Release:

Sep 6, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case
  • Full Frame

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/06
Derek Adams
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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2/5

No review available.

comment Comment
12/01/07
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com
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0.5/5

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Full Review | comment Comment
12/06/05
Film Threat
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2/5

No review available.

comment Comment
07/23/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
Ratings Image
D

An overstylized, puréed mélange of sex, psychology, drugs and philosophy. Sometimes entertaining, sometimes indulgent -- but never less than pure wankery.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/27/03
Brent Simon
Entertainment Today
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0.5/5

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Full Review | comment Comment
12/08/02
Film Threat
Ratings Image
N/A

Grenier is terrific, bringing an unforced, rapid-fire delivery to Toback’s Heidegger- and Nietzsche-referencing dialogue.

Full Review | comment Comment
10/28/02
Chuck Wilson
L.A. Weekly
N/R

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Full Review | comment Comment
10/26/02
Houston Chronicle
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2/5

I think it was Plato who said, 'I think, therefore I know better than to rush to the theatre for this one.'

Full Review | comment Comment
09/06/02
Cherryl Dawson and Leigh Ann Palone
TheMovieChicks.com
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C+

The attempt is courageous, even if the result is wildly uneven.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/05/02
Philip Wuntch
Dallas Morning News
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4/10

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Full Review | comment Comment
08/31/02
Brian Orndorf
Modamag.com
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N/A

A semi-autobiographical film that's so sloppily written and cast that you cannot believe anyone more central to the creation of Bugsy than the caterer had anything to do with it.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/30/02
Shawn Levy
Oregonian
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B

Might have been played as a glum cautionary tale, but in Toback's hands it becomes a lark--flashy, florid and blissfully over-the-top.

Full Review | comment Comment
08/26/02
Frank Swietek
One Guy's Opinion
N/R

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08/23/02
Cynthia Fuchs
PopMatters
N/R

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08/02/02
Elizabeth Blozan
Zap2it.com
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3.5/5

There's a certain niche audience that will eat up Harvard Man -- but whether that's the mob-movie set, the college-movie set, or the sex-movie set, I really have no idea.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/30/02
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
Ratings Image
N/A

A frustrating 'tweener' -- too slick, contrived and exploitative for the art houses and too cynical, small and decadent for the malls.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/23/02
Doris Toumarkine
Film Journal International
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C

If it's seldom boring, well, it's also rarely coherent.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/15/02
Marshall Fine
Journal News (Westchester, NY)
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3.5/5

For those who accept the offbeat premise, the film ultimately delivers a satisfying dramatic exploration of the ways we create ourselves.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/14/02
Sheri Linden
Boxoffice Magazine
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3/4

What makes the movie work is that the premise, which sounds like a comedy, is treated with the seriousness of life and death.

Full Review | comment Comment
07/13/02
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
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