Finding Forrester (2000)

Directed by Gus Van Sant. Starring Rob Brown, Sean Connery, F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Busta Rhymes, Michael Nouri, Glenn Fitzgerald, Richard Easton, Michael Pitt, Zane Copeland Jr., April Grace. [PG-13]

Bronx teen Jamal (Brown) is a gifted writer whose test scores get him accepted to a prestigious private school, but it’s not until he makes the acquaintance of Connery’s reclusive writer—a J. D. Salinger-esque talent who published one masterpiece fifty years ago and nothing since—that he becomes inspired to hone his craft and excel. By-the-book inspirational drama with lead performers that avoid straying into finicky or maudlin territories. Shades of Good Will Hunting from director Van Sant in its story of a young working-class prodigy being fostered by an older mentor (to say nothing for a cameo near the end from Matt Damon), but the climax is more in line with the extended final act of Scent of a Woman, even if it doesn’t beggar belief quite so melodramatically. For a movie so enamored with the written word, it’s a wonder why no original stories/essays are ever read at length (even near the end, we only hear the first few sentences of Jamal’s writing submission). Connery co-produced as well.

65/100