The Popkorn Junkie :: Finding Forrester

      While "Finding Forrester" is not the movie that "Good Will Hunting" is....there is a place for it in the current movie scene. Mike Rich's screenplay does an excellent job of developing the character of Forrester, played well by a grizzled Sean Connery. The relationship and dialogue between Connery and his young protégé Jamal Wallace, played by Robert Brown, is also well written and for the most part believable. Where Rich falls short is in his over-polarized depiction of New York life and the cliché-type way Brown is received by his new, preppy learning community.

      F. Murray Abraham is wonderful as Brown's snobbish, sophist literature professor and the scenes including Brown and Abraham are well done. Anna Paquin's character would be much better suited as a non-romantic suitor of Brown's. Rich ventures briefly and ineffectively into the inter-racial romance piece, but should have left the idea alone since it had already been written correctly in Spike Lee's "Jungle Fever". Paquin's character overall is not likeable. She is too naive, too wide eye, and too stereotypical.

      An other predominant theme in the movie is basketball but the scenes involving b-ball are not done very well by director Gus Van Zant. They are way better than "Teen Wolf", but not close to "Hoosiers".   Also, the conflict between Brown and his incumbent basketball star rival is poorly thought out and boorish.

      Overall, "Finding Forrester" is worth seeing simply for the performances of Connery and Abraham. One is inherently likeable and the other is inherently unlikable. But this dichotomy does not completely present itself until the film's climactic conclusion.

-- Tom, Guest Junkie ( 3 out of 4 pops )

Talk about this film with other Popkorn Junkies

Other Junkie's opinions.....

Patsy ( 2 out of 4 pops )

I didn't like this movie that much...it was ok. Here are the main reasons I didn't really like it: 1) Anna Paquin bugs the hell out of me (which, I swear, has nothing to do with the fact that she's co-starring with Joaquin in a new movie....grrr). 2) I thought there were a little too many instances of racism for the setting-- 21st century New York (I think it was NY). 3) The basket-ball scenes and the plot in general were totally predictable and shallow. One question: Are people still surprised when F. Murray Abraham turns out to be a bad guy....I mean, he killed Mozart....what do you expect?

Pappy ( 3 out of 4 pops )

I enjoyed it. Not great drama, but it is always enjoyable to see Sean Connery. It is the kind of movie you could tear apart if you really wanted to, because some of the editing, script and storytelling was not high quality, but if you just kick back you can enjoy a simple story with nice acting. And of course I am a "Catcher In the Rye" fan.