Home :: DVD :: Drama  

African American Drama
Classics
Crime & Criminals
Cult Classics
Family Life
Gay & Lesbian
General
Love & Romance
Military & War
Murder & Mayhem
Period Piece
Religion
Sports
Television
Harvard Man

Harvard Man

List Price: $9.98
Your Price: $9.98
Product Info Reviews

<< 1 2 3 >>

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A THREESOME ANYONE?
Review: I picked this DVD up off of the shelf because I spotted Gellar and Adams on the cover. When I flipped it over, I spotted a picture of Rebecca Gayheart manhandling SMG. I figured with the 3 of them in one movie (with Stoltz), it couldn't be all bad (and it wasn't). With some interesting dialogue and some druggie special effects straight out of Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (Terry Gilliam would be proud), this movie has it's moments. Clocking in at 99 minutes, it was a nice short film to sit through that didn't require you to follow too closely to enjoy. Did I mention that Rebecca Gayheart was in it?

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Projectile Vomiting
Review: I rented this movie because the synopsis honestly sounded entertaining. I wish I could have actually watched the movie; however, 10 minutes in not one shot had held still. First, a scene where it visibly cuts and jumps every 3 seconds, then an entire scene filmed circling the characters who are speaking, then a scene that moves between someone pacing and zooming and panning of a crowd. I was nauseous and had completely forgotten the meaning of the word 'stationary'. If you value your equilibrium, try a different movie by someone who can set up a tripod.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: interesting, but rental-worthy only
Review: i wanted to like this movie, as i live near harvard (yes, "harvard man" was very obviously shot in cambridge) and i adore sarah michelle gellar. but this is a very poorly written movie; the actors do the best they can, but the dialogue is trite and frankly the leading man is entirely unsympathetic. once the acid-trip sequence is a half hour old, you will be hoping he just dies so the movie will end.

i guess this thing is sort of ok, but rent before buying.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Actually, Sarah Michelle Gellar is more than eye candy here
Review: I watched this movie because it had Sarah Michelle Gellar in it and I am a big fan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I am not, in common parlance, hot for Gellar (Alyson Hannigan's smile does it for me), but for those who check out "Harvard Man" specifically to enjoy the actress this film starts to deliver while the image on the screen is still blank. However, it will not take long for you to figure out that Gellar is just eye candy in this film (even more so on the DVD) because the real focus is on the character of Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier), the alter-ego of writer-director James Toback who takes a kitchen sink approach to loading problems on this particular Harvard student to make his life explode for our cinematic enjoyment.

Alan is the point guard for Harvard's basketball team, who is "seeing" Cindy Bandolini (Gellar); she is not only a cheerleader at Holy Cross, but her father (Gianni Russo) is also the chief Mafioso for the Northeastern United States. He is also seeing Chesney Cort (Joey Lauren Adams), a Harvard Philosophy professor with one of the more interesting lecturing voices in the history of academia. But then Alan's life is disrupted by a tornado in Kansas that wipes out his family's uninsured home and a chemistry student friend who has baked up some new and improved LSD. So Alan needs $100,000 and suggests to Cindy that maybe her father can float him a loan. Cindy reports that this can happen, but Alan would have to do something in return and suddenly we are into the wonderful world of point shaving in the big Harvard-Dartmouth game. If this was not enough fun, Alan pops the acid just as the FBI are about to make their presence known. Almost all of the above action takes place to the accompaniment of music by J. S. Bach.

"Harvard Man" will remind you of some of Toback's earlier films, especially his first script for "The Gambler" and his 1987 "The Pick-Up Artist." These a films where not only are we watching interesting things happening to the characters, but where the characters tend to explore themselves and their actions in great detail (a tendency that extends even to the Mutt and Jeff Mafia hitmen running around in a sub-plot). For those of us who remember drug sequences from Sixties films trying to represent acid trips, "Harvard Man" is relatively tame and Toback ends up trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the end to set things right. Still, Gellar actually does end up with more to do in this film than look good and the story managed to get Eric Stoltz, John Neville and N.B.A. superstar Ray Allen on board. "Harvard Man" ends up being a high-paced roller coaster ride in which you have no idea how it is all going to play out, which is certainly nothing like being boring and predictable.

...

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Actually, Sarah Michelle Gellar is more than eye candy here
Review: I watched this movie because it had Sarah Michelle Gellar in it and I am a big fan of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer." I am not, in common parlance, hot for Gellar (Alyson Hannigan's smile does it for me), but for those who check out "Harvard Man" specifically to enjoy the actress this film starts to deliver while the image on the screen is still blank. However, it will not take long for you to figure out that Gellar is just eye candy in this film (even more so on the DVD) because the real focus is on the character of Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier), the alter-ego of writer-director James Toback who takes a kitchen sink approach to loading problems on this particular Harvard student to make his life explode for our cinematic enjoyment.

Alan is the point guard for Harvard's basketball team, who is "seeing" Cindy Bandolini (Gellar); she is not only a cheerleader at Holy Cross, but her father (Gianni Russo) is also the chief Mafioso for the Northeastern United States. He is also seeing Chesney Cort (Joey Lauren Adams), a Harvard Philosophy professor with one of the more interesting lecturing voices in the history of academia. But then Alan's life is disrupted by a tornado in Kansas that wipes out his family's uninsured home and a chemistry student friend who has baked up some new and improved LSD. So Alan needs $100,000 and suggests to Cindy that maybe her father can float him a loan. Cindy reports that this can happen, but Alan would have to do something in return and suddenly we are into the wonderful world of point shaving in the big Harvard-Dartmouth game. If this was not enough fun, Alan pops the acid just as the FBI are about to make their presence known. Almost all of the above action takes place to the accompaniment of music by J. S. Bach.

"Harvard Man" will remind you of some of Toback's earlier films, especially his first script for "The Gambler" and his 1987 "The Pick-Up Artist." These a films where not only are we watching interesting things happening to the characters, but where the characters tend to explore themselves and their actions in great detail (a tendency that extends even to the Mutt and Jeff Mafia hitmen running around in a sub-plot). For those of us who remember drug sequences from Sixties films trying to represent acid trips, "Harvard Man" is relatively tame and Toback ends up trying to pull a rabbit out of the hat at the end to set things right. Still, Gellar actually does end up with more to do in this film than look good and the story managed to get Eric Stoltz, John Neville and N.B.A. superstar Ray Allen on board. "Harvard Man" ends up being a high-paced roller coaster ride in which you have no idea how it is all going to play out, which is certainly nothing like being boring and predictable.

...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Save yourself the 2 hours
Review: I'm not even sure how long this movie dragged on, it seemed at least 2 1/2 hours.. 95% of this movie is filmed with some wierd filter or effect that tints everything red and underexposes anything white, which drove me nuts. The plot is just terrible, and the acting even worse. Sarah Michelle Gellar and Joey Lauren Adams are the only decent thing about this movie, and even their quality acting is degraded by this script. The LSD scenes are a beginners tutorial in kai's power goo, and the overall message of the film is on par with the just-say-no campaign. I like to rent B movies and see what young and unseen directors and actors can do, but seriously.. this is a pile of crap, save your money.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not the greatest, but, it wasn't bad
Review: Parts of it were funny! Strong acting and an not so excellent plot! Gellar, once again, is the reason why I watched this(like Scooby Doo and Cruel Intentions) Although the other two were better, this wasn't too bad, definetely not as bad as people are saying, but I could understand why! Adrian's parents are stripped from their homes, and need money to get one, $100 000! Cindy(Sarah Michelle Gellar) is one who is able and willing to give him that money! He also meets his professor(Joey Lauren Adams(Michael)) who happens to fall in love with! Anyways, it's not bad, not the greatest, but it'll do!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Talented actors, bad script
Review: Read the other reviews for plot and story information.
After reading the synaposis about sex, drugs and gambling on the video cover in which Sarah Gellar, Joey Adams,and Rebecca Gayheart are present, I could only anticipate the sexy possibilities that could be forthcoming.
Unfortunately, the lack of any interesting storyline in the plot killed any notion of that even 1/2 hour into the movie.
It's hard to even imagine that Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier) would even be able to bed both the Professor Chesney, and his girlfriend Cindy even if he is on the basketball team. We never know what Jensen's personality is really like except that he is into drugs. Is he smart, funny, what got him into Harvard? Who knows & who cares?
Gellar is acceptable as the daughter of a mobster. Adams is the most enjoyable part of the movie, with her raspy, sexy voice. She makes sense and is the glue that holds the stories together . The sex scenes, and they are not explicit, contain a lot of noices, but are boring, and except for Cindy and Alan's performance in the woods, none of it even matters.
The Director does amuse a little with some camera effects after Jensen takes some LSD, but those again, get boring and overused.
The performance of Stoltz and Gayheart as FBI agents is a joke. (I just ruined the only twist of the movie.
This was a long 2 hours. I hope Harvard is better than this!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: great
Review: Sarah michelle gellar was great in the movie! but dont see it if u dont like smg

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A odd and good movie experiance
Review: The movie starts off, with Alan Jensen ( Adrian Grenier )and
Cindy Bandolini ( Sara Michelle Gellar ) having moaning sex before a havard basketball game. Cindy is a cheerleader and
Alan is a harvard baketball player. Alan is moving quickly with his love life, juggling to different girlfriends, Cindy Bandolini
and Chesney Cort ( Joey Lauren Adams ). One day when Alan and Cindy are having a drink in a bar, Alan hears that a tornado
hit where his parents live, He immediatly hops a plane to his parents and find out that they need $ 100,000 to rebuild there ruined home. Alan, worried about his parents finds out that Cindy's father, Andrew Bandolini ( Gianni Russu ) is a local mofia man , and desperatly asks him to borrow the money for his parents. Andrew says yes as long as he misses a couple of games
and sheds some points. On the way back Cindy and Alan
have sex yet again , and that is the plot. After that Alan
get in trouble every minute of the movie, with the FBI , mafia

and 3/4 through the movie evens takes an overdose of old fasioned
acid, or LCD. The director, James Toback did a great job on the LCD scenes , making peoples faces mush round in circles, after a while it makes you feel like your on LCD. Sara michelle gellar
was facinating as ever, Adrian Grenier did a great job in the acid seens, and Joey Lauren Adams was good to. I know alot of people have said this is an awful movie, who gives a crap what they say, who gives a crap what i'm saying, Only you can decide , so just rent the movie when it comes out and watch it, if you hate it then return it , just don't watch it because someone else said not too , screw them, see it for yourself.


<< 1 2 3 >>

© 2004, ReviewFocus or its affiliates