WITH HONORS
A film review by James Berardinelli
Copyright 1994 James Berardinelli
Rating (0 to 10): 4.6
Date Released: 4/29/93
Running Length: 1:41
Rated: PG-13 (Language, sexual situations, mature themes,
brief nudity)
Starring: Brendan Fraser, Joe Pesci, Moira Kelly, Patrick Dempsey,
Josh Hamilton
Director: Alek Keshishan
Producers: Paula Weinstein and Amy Robinson
Screenplay: William Mastrosimone
Music: Patrick Leonard
Released by Warner Brothers
WITH HONORS is a perfect example of one of those cloying, "feel good" motion pictures that Hollywood churns out without consideration of that portion of the audience which would prefer to be gently drawn into the movie rather than subjected to cheap and obvious manipulation. Does this mean that the film is unwatchable? Certainly not, but it's an indication that WITH HONORS is far worse than it could--and should--have been.
If it's any consolation, the second half is a lot better than the first. Unfortunately, it's necessary to suffer through forty-five minutes before the characters start meshing, the script offers up its few clever moments, and the atmosphere takes on an amiable quality.
At the outset, we are introduced to four senior roommates at Harvard: Monty (Brendan Fraser), the ultra-conservative government major who's determined to graduate with honors; Courtney (Moira Kelly), a happy-go- lucky girl who likes to pretend to be "one of the boys" while secretly carrying a torch for Monty; Everett (Patrick Dempsey), a bohemian radio DJ with a pet chicken; and Jeff (Josh Hamilton), an anal retentive pre- med student. The choice of the movie to focus on Monty is rather unfortunate, since his character is pretty uninteresting. Had WITH HONORS showcased Courtney and Everett, things might have started out much better. Those two have an edge; Monty is merely bland.
Through a series of unbelievably contrived coincidences, the single copy of Monty's thesis ends up in the library's basement boiler room. Sneaking in to retrieve it, he discovers the lair of Simon Wilder (Joe Pesci), Harvard's resident homeless man. Simon has Monty's thesis, and isn't willing to give it back without something in return. Thus begins the start of a rocky relationship. Eventually, however, Monty comes to respect Simon, and seek his companionship and advice.
One of the problems with WITH HONORS is that Joe Pesci is wrong for the role. Even with his scraggly beard and unkempt hair, he's never particularly convincing as a homeless person. It has something to do with cocky arrogance of his delivery--when Simon says he's a "quitter," you don't believe him. Pesci is being Pesci; he's not doing any real acting. His chemistry with Fraser is close to non-existent until the closing scenes, when a fragile connection develops.
Patrick Dempsey is wonderful as the eccentric Everett Calloway, and it's disappointing that he gets so little screen-time. Ditto for Moira Kelly. After watching her play a teenage murderess, a futuristic rebel, and a prima dona skater, it's refreshing to see her as a "normal" person. Despite the size of his role, Fraser is relatively flat, and Josh Hamilton blends into the background on those occasions when his character isn't being obtuse or obnoxious.
WITH HONORS contains a few amusing sequences. In fact, there's a period of about ten minutes (beginning with the arrival of the new roommate) when the motion picture starts to click, offering a period of easygoing entertainment. That stops when the overt manipulation begins.
WITH HONORS is a movie with a message. It wants to make sure that its audience recognizes that the homeless are people, not garbage. This is repeated several times to assure that those who are dozing don't miss it. "Heavy-handed" is the word--not just for the theme, but for the film as a whole. This motion picture doesn't deserve to graduate--with or without honors.
- James Berardinelli (blake7@cc.bellcore.com)
.
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews