Rating: 
Summary: Brilliant character acting and a unique style
Review: Although James Toback's editing style takes a little getting used to (he tends to cut back and forth from scene to scene) this is still a great thought provoking film about a college student's attempts to escape the ever increasing banality of his life - first with sex and then by taking a huge quantity of LSD.Adrian Grenier does a fine job in a difficult role, as the eponymous Harvard Man, however the real star of the film is Sarah Michelle Gellar, who as always, is superb and hugely entertaining - playing a smart, sexy, manipulative and fast talking gangster's daughter with the delightful name of Cindy Bandolini. Okay, so this won't be to everyone's tastes I'm sure but if like me you're a fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar's brilliant character acting or James Toback's unique style of film making then this is a must-see.
Rating: 
Summary: *yawns* and it goes on and on and on and on and ....
Review: First of all let me say one thing: DON'T BUY! RENT! DON'T BUY! It's a waste of money. I am from Germany, and they already released the DVD here - when I spotted it in the store, I just HAD to buy it - I mean , SMG, right? Boy, was I disappointed. Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier) is the Star of Harvard's basketball Team, has good sex with his mafia-girlfriend Cindy and his Philosophy Teacher and he's always on drugs. After a hurricane destroys his parents home, he borrows [$$$] from Cindy's father, a Mafia boss. Being that, it's not easy for him to fulfill his part of the deal... The story is confusing and without any real sense, and watching Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier) being on an overdose LSD trip makes you feel you're on LSD,too! It's also filled with stupid and misplaced sex-scenes,that even made SMG look like an amateur. Even if I'm sounding redundant, the story has no plot. I did not experience a part of the movie where I went "Oh, that's cool". I had a hard time watching this movie, in fact, it took me 2 days, because I couldn't stand Alan on his LSD trip. The only mentionable thing is that Adrian Grenier did a really good job - so did Sarah , i guess, if the movie wouldn't suck so bad. So, if you wanna be smart, then save your money for something else, but don't buy this one - it's only worth it if you've always wanted to hear Sarah Michelle Gellar moan like there's no end in sight.-
...
Rating: 
Summary: Actually pretty good
Review: First off, as a rather big SMG fan, I cannot believe this film has received lower ratings than "Simply Irresistible"! That was a limp, wooden "romantic comedy" featuring a couple who lacked any chemistry. "Harvard Man", on the other hand, has a modicum of style, plot, and intelligence behind it. It doesn't really work in the final analysis - not because of any failings of the acting, which is mostly excellent (although I just can't overcome my aversion to Joey Lauren Adams' squeaky voice), but because the movie doesn't quite hit the pitch of danger that I felt it needed to sustain the drama. Toback, however, does compelling things with sequencing, flash forwards and back, and with camerawork, split-screen and so on, and the dialogue is mostly fine. The lighting has a nice grainy amber texture to it and the soundtrack is a fun mix of hip-hop and classical. Grenier in the lead does well, Stolz and Gayheart are great, and Sarah Michelle - and yes, I do have a slight bias - proves again that she has excellent range. As well as being a cutie-patootie. "Scooby Doo" and all is fine, but please, SMG, pick a project that will demonstrate your dramatic chops to the non-believers out there! I'd love to see her do work on the big screen as fine as that in "The Body" or "Innocence" in BtVS...
Rating:
Summary: Actually pretty good
Review: First off, as a rather big SMG fan, I cannot believe this film has received lower ratings than "Simply Irresistible"! That was a limp, wooden "romantic comedy" featuring a couple who lacked any chemistry. "Harvard Man", on the other hand, has a modicum of style, plot, and intelligence behind it. It doesn't really work in the final analysis - not because of any failings of the acting, which is mostly excellent (although I just can't overcome my aversion to Joey Lauren Adams' squeaky voice), but because the movie doesn't quite hit the pitch of danger that I felt it needed to sustain the drama. Toback, however, does compelling things with sequencing, flash forwards and back, and with camerawork, split-screen and so on, and the dialogue is mostly fine. The lighting has a nice grainy amber texture to it and the soundtrack is a fun mix of hip-hop and classical. Grenier in the lead does well, Stolz and Gayheart are great, and Sarah Michelle - and yes, I do have a slight bias - proves again that she has excellent range. As well as being a cutie-patootie. "Scooby Doo" and all is fine, but please, SMG, pick a project that will demonstrate your dramatic chops to the non-believers out there! I'd love to see her do work on the big screen as fine as that in "The Body" or "Innocence" in BtVS...
Rating:
Summary: Very Good...
Review: Harvard Man is a very good film. I got a used copy of the DVD from blockbuster, and it was well-worth the price. The acting in this film is great, Rebecca Gayheart really does a good job in this one. The other cast members are amazing as well. The directing in this film is also wonderful, I really like the tone. I gave this movie four stars, because It was good. I just didn't like one thing about it, when the main character, Allen (adrien Grenier, or however it is spelled!), is on drugs, I guess they wanted you to see the movie from his point of view, but all that really happens is the picture squishes (for lack of better word) up, and THAT REALLY GETS ANNOYING! The script for this film is great! I just wish the editing would have been a little different, all-in-all HARVARD MAN is a very entertaining film. It is worth watching more than twice.
Rating:
Summary: SMG isn't worth it.
Review: Harvard Man isn't a very good film. The plot seems transparent, but the plot is actually better than you'd guess. I was pleasantly surprised that the plot ended up being somewhat good. The acting isn't very good at all. SMG does her best to play a limited part, but just can't carry the film. I really thought I would like this film as I'm a huge SMG fan and I really like some of the other actors in this move. When it was over, I felt I had wasted my time and really felt this move shouldn't get any stars. There is a reason it went direct to DVD. Huge SMG fans should rent this one.... everyone else should rent something else.
Rating:
Summary: This was Great!
Review: Harvard Man was very good, expesually if you like sarah michelle gellar. She plays a similar role in cruel intensions
as in havard man. This is a 5 star movie and I just loved and I watched it again and again!
Rating:
Summary: I Really Wanted This to Be Good, but . . .
Review: Honestly, the only reason for me seeing Harvard Man is the presence of Sarah Michelle Gellar in the film. I believe her being in the film is what actually sold the movie to a studio. Rightfully done, since she was the only entertaining part of the whole film. And even her performance was a bit weak. Harvard Man tells the story of a young Harvard student (Who is experimental with drugs, and is fairly promiscuous) who gets involved with a mob boss' daughter. When a bet is made between the two that leads to him throwing a highly important basketball game, all goes down hill. Fairly simple, yet I found myself losing the point of the story occasionally. Just why exactly did the FBI want with the Harvard guy? To have a link to the big mobster guy? Hm? Along with the dialogue, performances seem a bit rushed. The only one who seems to sit back and enjoy was Eric Stoltz. Not that he has much screen time. The main star here is Adrian Grier (Drive Me Crazy). I didn't enjoy his performance. Only when he was high off of 15,000 somethings of ecstasy was his performance even the least bit interesting. Sarah Michelle Gellar was great as always, and actually seemed to take the movie into her own hands. Joey Lauren Adams is undeniably cute, and she fairs well. Rebecca Gayheart was shortly seen, and her character just seemed off. And were the two Italian hitmen supposed to be for comedy relief? No, to me, they were just plain annoying. Hard to say if I'll ever sit through another watching of Harvard Man. Ever. Again.
Rating: 
Summary: Quite possibly the most annoying movie ever made
Review: I am a little surprised that Harvard has not sued the makers of this film for associating the ivy-league college with such a horrible cinematic experience. I, like many, sought this film out because Sarah Michelle Geller was in it; when I learned Rebecca Gayheart was also in the cast, I thought to myself: How bad can a film with both Geller and Gayheart be? Let me tell you: pretty doggone bad. First and foremost, the storyline and script are simply dreadful and ill-conceived, and these problems are only exacerbated by the prominence of some untalented actors in the cast. Alan Grenier is Alan Jensen, supposedly the starting point guard on the Harvard basketball team, despite the fact that he is rather short, has no semblance of athletic skill, and really doesn't even try to look like he knows what he's doing when he's on the basketball court. Honestly, this is one of the worst casting decisions I've ever seen. Did I mention the fact that his acting skills also seem to be in short supply? Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Cindy Bandolini, the unprincipled daughter of a mafia don and girlfriend of Alan; talk about your odd couple; several love scenes between the two are just icky. Of course, our ruggedly unhandsome Alan is not content with Cindy; no, he is also sleeping with his philosophy professor Chesney Cort (played by the helium-voiced Joey Lauren Adams). Back in Kansas, a tornado destroys the home of Alan's parents, and he is determined to get the one hundred thousand dollars needed for them to rebuild. In steps Cindy with a plan to make a killing off a sports bet; all Alan has to do is throw the big game against Dartmouth. Soon, the FBI is nosing around, everybody sort of panics, hope rises in the viewer that at least one of these dreadful characters will die, and then a pretty impossible if not ludicrous ending is thrown together at the end. You don't really even care how bad the conclusion is because you are just glad the film is finally over. I don't think I've ever seen a movie go to such lengths to annoy its audience. Almost every scene features what I would call stop gaps; every few seconds, the film seems to jump a few frames for no reason whatsoever; this is a short-term technique that should be used sparingly, but the director of Harvard Man shot the entire movie this way, and it made me want to scream. Then there is the music; it's just awful, and even worse it is constant and far too loud most of the time. I guess a lot of it is supposed to sound Italian or something, even though the Mafia bit is not that important to the film. The inclusion of Ray Allen, an actual basketball player, in the movie also makes no sense. When Allen's character talks to Grenier, both of them seem to be in a race to see who can say his lines the fastest, and Allen tries so hard not to look like a professional basketball player that he ends up looking just as bad as everyone around him on the court. Just when you think things can't possibly get any worse, we are taken along for an extended LSD trip in which all the voices the character hears building up inside his head assault our own ears as well in a rising crescendo. This, in conjunction with all the other problems, qualifies this film as pure and utter torture. I have no idea why Sarah Michelle Gellar chose to participate in Harvard Man, but it almost has to be a decision she now regrets.
Rating:
Summary: Quite possibly the most annoying movie ever made
Review: I am a little surprised that Harvard has not sued the makers of this film for associating the ivy-league college with such a horrible cinematic experience. I, like many, sought this film out because Sarah Michelle Geller was in it; when I learned Rebecca Gayheart was also in the cast, I thought to myself: How bad can a film with both Geller and Gayheart be? Let me tell you: pretty doggone bad. First and foremost, the storyline and script are simply dreadful and ill-conceived, and these problems are only exacerbated by the prominence of some untalented actors in the cast. Alan Grenier is Alan Jensen, supposedly the starting point guard on the Harvard basketball team, despite the fact that he is rather short, has no semblance of athletic skill, and really doesn't even try to look like he knows what he's doing when he's on the basketball court. Honestly, this is one of the worst casting decisions I've ever seen. Did I mention the fact that his acting skills also seem to be in short supply? Sarah Michelle Gellar plays Cindy Bandolini, the unprincipled daughter of a mafia don and girlfriend of Alan; talk about your odd couple; several love scenes between the two are just icky. Of course, our ruggedly unhandsome Alan is not content with Cindy; no, he is also sleeping with his philosophy professor Chesney Cort (played by the helium-voiced Joey Lauren Adams). Back in Kansas, a tornado destroys the home of Alan's parents, and he is determined to get the one hundred thousand dollars needed for them to rebuild. In steps Cindy with a plan to make a killing off a sports bet; all Alan has to do is throw the big game against Dartmouth. Soon, the FBI is nosing around, everybody sort of panics, hope rises in the viewer that at least one of these dreadful characters will die, and then a pretty impossible if not ludicrous ending is thrown together at the end. You don't really even care how bad the conclusion is because you are just glad the film is finally over. I don't think I've ever seen a movie go to such lengths to annoy its audience. Almost every scene features what I would call stop gaps; every few seconds, the film seems to jump a few frames for no reason whatsoever; this is a short-term technique that should be used sparingly, but the director of Harvard Man shot the entire movie this way, and it made me want to scream. Then there is the music; it's just awful, and even worse it is constant and far too loud most of the time. I guess a lot of it is supposed to sound Italian or something, even though the Mafia bit is not that important to the film. The inclusion of Ray Allen, an actual basketball player, in the movie also makes no sense. When Allen's character talks to Grenier, both of them seem to be in a race to see who can say his lines the fastest, and Allen tries so hard not to look like a professional basketball player that he ends up looking just as bad as everyone around him on the court. Just when you think things can't possibly get any worse, we are taken along for an extended LSD trip in which all the voices the character hears building up inside his head assault our own ears as well in a rising crescendo. This, in conjunction with all the other problems, qualifies this film as pure and utter torture. I have no idea why Sarah Michelle Gellar chose to participate in Harvard Man, but it almost has to be a decision she now regrets.
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