Finding Forrester

December 10, 2004

Rated: PG-13 Runtime: 135 min Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Finding Forrester is actually a pretty darn good movie, but its not really a “guy” movie any more than Good Will Hunting or Dead Poets Society are.

Finding Forrester

Connery plays William Forrester, writer of the classic 20th century novel, who for reasons all his own only wrote the one book. He now lives a secluded life in the Bronx where he’s become somewhat of a legend among his neighbors as the kids speculate why he never comes out of his home.

On a dare, Jamal Wallace (Robert Brown) sneaks into Forresters apartment and is distracted by the number of quality books on his bookshelf. See, Jamal is a bright kid in his own right and reads everything he can get his hand on. More than that, he actually understands the deeper meanings in literary works and can write a pretty fine story himself. The dare ends with Jamal getting scared out of the apartment by William, and unfortunately leaves his backpack behind in the process.

Thus the main part of the story begins, and you knew all this from the previews anyway. Forrester goes through the bag Jamal left behind and discovers his writing, and makes comments on the papers. When the bag is returned to Jamal and he sees what Forrester wrote, he asks Forrester to help him with his writing. What follows is an interesting relationship between the public-shy Forrester and the outgoing teenager that’s a pleasure to watch unfold.

Now to the negative, and the reason the movie only gets three stars. For one thing the story isn’t exactly a nail-biting one… you can figure out the ending after the first 10 minute of the movie. Second, its rather slow in parts. Take about 20 minutes out to get the story moving, and put a cameo from Bruce Willis at the ending and it would be a much better film.

Final result? Good flick, worth watching and a great date movie. But if you’re watching by yourself or with the guys, wait for DVD.

Posted by John | Filed Under 3 Stars, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, Drama, F. Murray Abraham, PG-13, Sean Connery, Theatrical, Tom Mullica