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Movies / Upcoming / 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

US Box Office: $51,370,406

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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1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
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Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
10/30/01
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

For all of Gus Van Sant’s narrative weavings, for all of his grabs towards emotions and reactions, it amounts to little; a belated film with belated functions.

Full Review Source: In Film Australia | comment Comment
05/06/01
Luke Buckmaster
Luke Buckmaster
In Film Australia
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
03/30/01
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

To dismiss Finding Forrester as just a rehash of Good Will Hunting is not entirely fair.

Full Review Source: AboutFilm.com | comment Comment
02/07/01
Carlo Cavagna
Carlo Cavagna
AboutFilm.com

It seems that this script was put through the ‘Hollywood wringer’ far too many times – squeezing out any real sense that it might be something different.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
02/07/01
Brian Webster
Brian Webster
Apollo Guide

A well-acted, if overly familiar, tale of an unlikely friendship.

Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution | comment Comment
12/22/00
Steve Murray
Steve Murray
Atlanta Journal-Constitution

A nice-looking, nice-feeling exercise in conventionalism that sure could use a couple of transvestites and maybe a house falling from the sky.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/03
Kimberly Jones
Kimberly Jones
Austin Chronicle

An intelligent, subtle, in short remarkable take on growing up, being true to yourself and fighting the odds.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
04/16/01
Michael Thomson
Michael Thomson
BBC

A juicy and gratifying teacher movie.

comment Comment
12/26/00
Jay Carr
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
03/24/02
Boston Phoenix
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The unlikely friendship is touchingly authentic thanks to genuine and profound performances from Connery and newcomer Pitt.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment Comment
12/20/00
Christine James
Christine James
Boxoffice Magazine

Rather hollow effort.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
03/25/08
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

It takes us inside the head of a young man whose black friends are suspicious of anyone who studies too hard and whose white colleagues wonder if he can study hard enough. Those two voyages make it worthwhile.

comment Comment
01/11/01
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer

If director Gus Van Sant had always been a hack it wouldn't matter so much, but personally I find this form of licking the audience's cheeks like an obsequious puppy deeply offensive.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment 3 Comments
03/25/08
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Movies about writers are notoriously hard to do, since writing by its nature is not cinematic. Finding Forrester evades that problem by giving us a man who wrote one good novel a long time ago, and now writes no more.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
12/22/00
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

[Van Sant's] visual lyricism and uncondescending attitude toward almost everyone on screen ensure that the film won't succumb to formula.

comment Comment
12/21/00
Mark Caro
Mark Caro
Chicago Tribune

The film is charming, smart, and extremely witty. Not in a manipulative way either. Just GOOD.

Full Review Source: CHUD | comment Comment
12/13/00
Nick Nunziata
Nick Nunziata
CHUD

Earns its keep with the bracing interplay between Mr. Connery's old lion and Mr. Brown's savvy young prodigy.

Full Review Source: Cincinnati Enquirer | comment Comment
10/15/02
Margaret A. McGurk
Margaret A. McGurk
Cincinnati Enquirer
N/R

Click to read the article

Full Review Source: Cinema Crazed | comment Comment
04/29/09
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Felix Vasquez Jr.
Cinema Crazed

Sean Connery nos oferece um dos melhores desempenhos de sua carreira...

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
05/31/02
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; Australian critics are listed first)
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Latest News for Finding Forrester

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