`Forrester's' tired formula still resonates
By CHRISTINE KRALY
Scene Movie Critic
When a movie character is hiding something, the screenplay usually focuses on an interesting, entertaining way to find out his dirty little secret.
Usually the secluded person is just waiting for someone to break down the walls he's built around himself and bring him out of seclusion. In "Finding Forrester," Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown) is the young man with the sledgehammer, ready to demolish William Forrester's (Sean Connery) fortress of solitude.
Jamal is gifted, on and off the basketball court. His impressive test scores catch the attention of one of the best private high schools in New York. Jamal leaves the comfort of friends and his inner-city school to attend the privileged institution.
His new school brings out all the challenges of making new friends, meeting higher academic standards and playing for a competitive basketball team. What it does not bring out are any truly new elements to the my-school-and-life-are-changing plot. When a movie character changes schools, there is always one person of the same sex who offers friendship and another who, for some reason, automatically hates the main character.
With his newfound enemy — a wealthy basketball teammate — and friend and guide Claire (Anna Paquin), Jamal struggles to fit in socially and academically. Little screen time is spent dealing with his social life in the new school; much more is devoted to Jamal's English class. It is in this class that he discovers that the strange man in the window across the basketball court is the once-famous writer William Forrester.
Tucked away in seclusion, William is unable to cope with life outside his apartment doors and the fame of the Pulitzer-prize winning talent he showcased four decades earlier. Already a gifted writer, Jamal seeks William's help in becoming even better. William agrees as long as he doesn't tell anyone that he's "found Forrester."
"Good Will Hunting" director Gus Van Sant creates some terrific scenes between Connery and Brown, and the actors fall into their roles with charm. The funniest moments come when Jamal proves himself worthy of William's sarcastic ribbing and writing challenges.
Much like Van Sant's Matt Damon-Ben Affleck tear jerker, "Forrester" is predictably heroic. The audience knows William will befriend Jamal because it is an old story: boy needs guidance; boy meets older man; older man becomes boy's friend and teacher.
The chemistry between Brown and Connery, though, is entertaining and genuine — even enough to make viewers forget that they essentially know what's going to happen.
The movie doesn't get overly psychological. Incidents in William's past cause him to shut himself off from society, and this prevents him from doing the thing he loves best: writing. But the film spends just enough time addressing William's personal problems, avoiding clouding the importance of the film: his relationship with Jamal.
Funny and dramatic, Connery delivers one of his best performances; but it's the new faces who deliver the unexpected surprises. Sixteen-year-old Brown makes an amazing film debut as Jamal, and there is even an impressive appearance by rap star Busta Rhymes as Jamal's rap-aspiring brother.
Near the end of the film, audience members find themselves wanting Connery as their teacher. Impatient and entertaining, erratic and unconventional, Connery's William is motivational and caring. The Scottish-accented wit he delivers throughout the movie has everyone wishing James Bond were teaching them the do's and don'ts of better writing.
- Four shamrocks (out of five)
All Scene Stories for Thursday, February 1, 2001
