Finding Forrester

Finding Forrester could have been a shallow variant of The Karate Kid, congratulating itself for featuring a 16-year-old black kid from the South Bronx who's a brilliant scholar-athlete. Instead, director Gus Van Sant plays it matter-of-fact and totally real, casting a nonactor (Rob Brown) as Jamal, a basketball player and gifted student whose writing talent is nurtured by a famously reclusive author. William Forrester (Sean Connery) became a literary icon four decades earlier with a Pulitzer-winning novel, then disappeared (like J.D. Salinger) into his dark, book-filled apartment, agoraphobic and withdrawn from publishing, but as passionate as ever about writing. On a dare, Jamal sneaks into Forrester's musty sanctuary, and what might have been a condescending cliché--homeboy rescued by wiser white mentor--turns into an inspiring meeting of minds, with mutual respect and intelligence erasing boundaries of culture and generation. Comparisons to Van Sant's Good Will Hunting are inevitable, but Finding Forrester is more honest and less prone to touchy-feely sentiment, as in the way Jamal and a private-school classmate (Anna Paquin) develop a mutual attraction that remains almost entirely unspoken. The film takes a conventional turn when Jamal must defend his integrity (with Forrester's help) in a writing contest judged by a skeptical teacher (F. Murray Abraham), but this ethical subplot is a credible catalyst for Forrester's most dramatic display of friendship. It's one of many fine moments for Connery and Brown (a screen natural), in a memorable film that transcends issues of race to embrace the joy of learning. --Jeff Shannon

Genre: Drama

Director(s): Gus Van Sant

Stars: Sean Connery, Rob Brown, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Matt Damon

Production: Columbia Pictures

5 wins & 13 nominations.


IMDB:: 7.3
Metacritic:: 62
Rotten Tomatoes:: 74%

Finding Forrester Screenplay »

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: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Year:: 2000
: 136
: $51,370,406
: Website
: 10,887 Views

Forrester:
Bolt the door, if you're coming in.

Jamal:
Women will sleep with you if you write a book?

Forrester:
Women will sleep with you if you write a bad book.

Forrester:
What you write in this apartment stays in this apartment.

Forrester:
The key to a woman's heart is an unexpected gift at an unexpected time.

Forrester:
You're the man now, dog!

Jamal:
I came back to see, if you could help me out with my writing.

Forrester:
Here's one: 5,000 words on why you'll stay the f*** out of my home.

Forrester:
In some cultures it's good luck to be wearing something inside-out.

Jamal:
And you believe that?

Forrester:
No, but it's like praying: what do you risk?

Jamal:
Don't forget to write.

Forrester:
No thinking - that comes later. You must write your first draft with your heart. You rewrite with your head. The first key to writing is... to write, not to think!

Jamal:
"The rest of those who have gone before us cannot steady the unrest of those to follow." You wrote that in your book.

Forrester:
Let me ask you a question... those two foul shots at the end of the game... did you miss them, or did you *miss* them?

Jamal:
That's not exactly a soup question, now is it?

Forrester:
My name's William Forrester.

Forrester:
I'm that one up there.

Jamal:
I'll take poor assumptions for $800, Alex.

Jamal:
Man, f*** you William. You wanna know what the real bullshit is? How about you let me take it on this one cause you're too damn scared to walk out that door and do something for somebody else. You're too damn scared, man! That's the only damn reason.

Forrester:
You don't know sh*t about reason; reasons why some of us live and why some of us don't! Well, fortunately for you you have decades to figure that out.

Jamal:
Yeah, and what's the reason in having a file cabinet full of writing and keeping the sh*t locked so nobody can read it? What is that man? I'm through with this sh*t.

Forrester:
I have an homeland that I have not seen for too long.

Jamal:
O, you mean Ireland?

Forrester:
Scotland, for God's sakes!

Jamal:
I am messing with you, man!

jamal:
eat my ass dawg, aint nobody gotta know man

Punch the keys, for gods sake!!

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Stamford
The best pro education movie in decades. Sean Connery gets little recognition for his ability and range.
I may be romantic or boring or too simplistic but is there a better human story with so many real characters. more »
LikeReply 11 year ago