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Movies / Upcoming / Finding Forrester
Finding Forrester

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Finding Forrester (2000)

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Reviews Counted:29

Fresh:20

Rotten:9

Average Rating:6.3/10

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 - 11 (sorted by date; 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
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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
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
03/30/01
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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N/R

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Full Review Source: Ebert & Roeper | comment Comment
10/18/08
Ebert & Roeper
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Although it's familiar territory, Van Sant gives the material a new spin and the result is off-beat, low-key and guaranteed to lift spirits with its easy charm.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/23/01
Caroline Westbrook
Caroline Westbrook
Empire Magazine
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The story is schematic and the hero/villain matchup a little too obvious, but never underestimate the charisma of Connery.

comment Comment
12/22/00
Mike Clark
Mike Clark
USA Today
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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
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Finding Forrester manages to take the cerebral act of literary creation and make it exciting, sexy even.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
12/22/00
Michael O'Sullivan
Michael O'Sullivan
Washington Post
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Finding Forrester is 100 percent bogus, from its high-concept characters whose resemblance to real human beings is distant at best, to the 'lessons' it imparts on everything from courtship to writing.

Full Review Source: New York Times | comment Comment
12/19/00
Stephen Holden
Stephen Holden
New York Times
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There is a smooth, practiced charm to all of this, but, even with Connery fulminating for all he's worth, it wears thin.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
12/19/00
Kenneth Turan
Kenneth Turan
Los Angeles Times
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When was the last time a Hollywood movie portrayed the acts of reading and writing in such a gratifying and fulfilling way that it made you want to read a real book rather than an 'airport' bestseller?

Full Review Source: Variety | comment Comment
12/18/00
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
Variety
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1 - 11 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
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