Rating: 
Summary: Finding really good vanilla ice cream
Review: There is nothing bad about "Finding Forrester" as a film at all... There is nothing exceptional about it either.The film is weighed down by its simularities to several other releases such as "Good Will Hunting", "Scent of a Woman", and even "With Honors". The story revolves around a high school basketball star who happens to be a closet literary genius who is befriended by reclusive pulitzer prize winning novelist Sean Connery... The legend Connery must come out of hiding to vindicate the writing of his young apprentice in a sceen far less climactic than the pace of the story itself. The relationship between the old writer and the young one is the core of the film and it is this core that holds the viewer captive awaiting the promise of the film. What could of been a fine story of friendship is watered down and lost in the subplots of basketball games and ego clashes with villianous school faculty members... The sceens that take place between Connery and his pupil make the film worth viewing but there is just not enough new material to merit the films own worthiness... 2 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: A beautiful movie
Review: Wonderfully done, I cannot say enough about it. The plot was anything but cliche, the characters memorable, and the entire storyline was done without even one scene containing a half nude female. An excellent movie.
Rating:
Summary: Good Will Hunting Done Right
Review: I didn't expect much when I went to see this movie. All I knew was that Sean Connery and Anna Paquin were in the movie, which I thought a strange combination. In truth, their characters interact little, though they are bound by an innercity youth who is a brilliant writer. The story is engaging, at times suprising and heartwarming. It's not an action thriller or a sports movie, but it is a wonderful movie about people and their talents. Highly Recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: Worth the effort, worth the time
Review: I often wondered whether this movie would only be both fully forgiven for its flaws and appreciated for its strengths by frustrated novelists and authors like yours truly. Lines like Jamal's to Sean Connery: "So women will sleep with you just if you write a book?," answered with, "Women will sleep with you if you write a BAD book..." go straight to the heart, and made me laugh out loud (much to the chagrin of my girfriend). Luckily, the star of this film is not Sean Connery or the new actor in the supporting/main role. The star is not the setting in New York, nor is the film stolen by the master character actor F. Murray Abraham. The film's star isn't the screenplay, despite some of its stellar moments. And for ... sure it ain't the editing, which had me straining the forgiveability factor at times; it went a little past the attempt at purposely looking rough and raw to just being rough and raw as if we were looking at an unfinished film made by college students. The start of this film is the relationship between the two characters, who thankfully transcend the easily formulaic aspects of their surface identities and pre-prescribed social roles to become true artists and powerful friends. True, they had no choice but to go there: a simple and simple-minded "experienced but fatally flawed reclusive White intellectual saves a ghetto Black youth with uncommon promise" would have had the effect of filming an upper middle class cocaine party in the suburbs for the benefit of undercover detectives. A majority White audience would have gotten high off of both the liberal guilt transformed via it cathartically dancing with the hypo-cortical (smile) feelings of racial superiority that produced it, but they would have been too ashamed at getting busted after the fact by the Black intelligentsia for the movie--or today's culture--to escape unscathed or anyone to enjoy the memories. And reality is reality: THE KARATE KID and GOOD WILL HUNTING are both such wonderful variations on the unlikely mentor/student of life theme that you don't need to see anyone miss at another attempt at equalling them, let alone surpass them--and they would have to be equalled for the film to be entertaining. (Particularly when, in this racial surface context, a director will be immediately accused of the sin of commission delineated a few sentences above, even if he simply committed the sin of ommitting the spark of new life that would prevent it from being valid.) That is what makes this movie so special. The courage it took to take all of that on, and focus on what makes all human relationships worth having in the context of what makes artists artists--not to mention what makes art (in this case, the written word) so important, is almost worth congratulating by itself. But not resting on the laurels of such courage and creating a moving and instructive film that still profoundly entertains and illuminates at its best moments with true character development (though they could have been developed even more I think), is what makes this a film worthy of owning. They say a lot of wonderful things in this movie, in very entertaining and enjoyable, truly satisfying ways. I liked it.
Rating:
Summary: The Film is an Absolute Triumph!
Review: SEAN CONNERY (The Rock) plays William Forrester, a novelist who has been living in hiding for several years in an apartment, built in front of a basketball court. After young writer Jamal Wallace sneaks into the house to see what it's like in there, he leaves his backpack behind, with his journal in it. After retrieving his bag, Jamal discovers his journal has been edited and goes to Mr. Forrester for help with his writing, and an unbelievable friendship begins. MY REVIEW: "THE MOVIE IS PERFECT IN EVERY ASPECT! Sean Connery, Rob Brown, Anna Paquin and Matt Damon's performances are all outstanding! The directing from Gus Van Sant (Good Will Hunting) and cinematography is excellent! All fans of great, inspirational films will cheer for Finding Forrester! THE FILM IS SIMPLY A TRIUMPH!"- MJV & the Movies.
Rating:
Summary: A Satifying Evening
Review: Finding Forrester is a complex, quiet gem that left me totally satisfied. No stereotypes. The characters were well drawn and totall believable, even F. Murray Abraham's "Salieri"-like character.Rob Brown as Jamal was believable. He was an active listener,(a lesson for many experienced actors). Sean Connery's Forrester was intense and vulnerable at the same time. This is a thoughtful film about friendship in its many forms. I would have given it 5 stars, but for the sound. Some parts were just very hard to hear. Thank goodness for rewind/replay. If you want a film and characters that you can remember long after the credits, this film is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Movie
Review: Before I rented this movie, I was skeptical as to my interest level. But after a bit of coercion from my wife I consented an rented it. Half way through the movie I was captivated by the beautiful story line and the supurb acting. The movie is set in the Bronx, NY. The setting is typical New York urban developments; children playing, tall buildings and much traffic. The movie begins with a few young men playing basketball on an outside court. Their attention is diverted to a window at the top of a, moderately tall, apartment building. Here, William Forrester - Sean Connery, sits and watches the urbanesque view below. Through acts of inmature jesting, the paths of Jamal , Rob Brown, and Sean Connery meet. This meeting will invoke a symbiotic relationship where the two men discover their need for each other - filling an empty void within their souls. This movie has all of the emotions that humans can understand. You will remember this movie not just as an entertaining story, but also as a life lesson that we each can learn from.
Rating:
Summary: Unpretentious, Well Done Film
Review: An above average film about a gifted young man from the Bronx who draws inspiration from a reclusive author. There are several elements which could have been overdone in this film: prejudice, class differences, breaking out from poverty, isolation. But the film is really about the friendship which develops between Jamal and Forrester, and how it changes both of their lives. Had the film tried to develop everything else, it would have lost this principal focus, and much of its impact. Sean Connery does a masterful job, as always, and Rob Brown as Jamal is a natural. Anna Paquin is charming, as is the chemistry between her character and Jamal. A bit less sentimental than "Good Will Hunting," if you liked that film, you will like this one. If you don't like films that don't have a lot of action, avoid this film. I have always said that character development makes or breaks a film, and this film develops its characters superbly. The music, though different than you might expect from a typical Hollywood production, is excellent and fits the movie well. Smoky jazz/blues, moody in some places, playful in others. I especially liked the jazz guitar rendition of "Somewhere, Over the Rainbow." A final note: If you have a DVD player, you might want to try the DVD edition. The camera work is VERY tight, and my wife and I both felt that a lot of the scenes were being cut off by the "pan and scan." We found this distracting, so we feel that this movie is probably best viewed "widescreen."
Rating:
Summary: good acting, sub par plot
Review: As you can tell by the first review, this movie has a plot extremely similar to the Karate Kid. I found there were many unneeded scenes, which moved the plot at an extremely slow pace. Jamal develops a friendship with a girl in his class, yet for all we know nothing comes out of this friendship. Forrester obviously has a sort of psychological condition, but we find very little out about this as well. The film is somewhat distanced from the viewer, which does not work well for this film. Great performances by Connery and the actor whom played Jamal, but overall, as Jamal might say: been there, seen that.
Rating:
Summary: Simply--I enjoyed it
Review: I saw the movie while on vacation and found myself there...watching it instead of anything else. I dont' usually enjoy what's on TV that much. But this video was GOOD. The writing was what I could have reviewed in a film class, as the director said VOLUMES to me. It unraveled slowly and with predictability but that didn't take away from anything. The movie was great
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