Finding Forrester

That critic you hear so much about on this site, Mr. Glenn Kenny, recently wrote a review in which he pissed and moaned about films about writers. Being one himself, he has trouble watching writers portrayed on film, and he asserts that what you see on screen is 99% bad in this regard. I wonder what he thinks of this film. I wonder if he doesn't even consider it a portrayal of writers, seeing as you hear little more than a few phrases of writing in the entire movie or see the characters doing any actual writing (the one time you do see this, the lesson learned is an excellent one, by the way). But what is the film, then? Is it a study of racism? If so, how come you never see the reality of that either? Gus Van Sant is known for understated works, laid-back works, in fact, and very smart screenwriting. The latter exists here, but I'm not sure the former does. It's too clever, too polished, too unreal. The conflicts are predictable, regardless of how well acted they are by Sean Connery and the new, but wise beyond years, Rob Brown (whoo, where'd they find him?). It's entertaining, natch -- you know that the young black word whiz will end up being tutored by the white, experienced writer, and that the secrecy of their relationship will end up being undermined. How? Well, that's what you're watching for. Besides which, the end cameo is worth every penny.

year: 2000
length: 136 min.
rating: 3.0
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0181536/combined