★ 10 / 10
One of the first things I do when
GenerationofSwine
One of the first things I do when I write reviews is go through the 1 stars to see the petty things people are complaining about... you know, so I can roll my…
One of the first things I do when I write reviews is go through the 1 stars to see the petty things people are complaining about... you know, so I can roll my eyes and mock them.
But there, as of writing this, are no 1 star reviews. That should tell you something. It SHOULD tell you that, at it's worst, "With Honors" is at least a fun and enjoyable film.
And it totally is. Unfortunately all it probably means, in reality, is that the "we can't enjoy anything ever and everything is literal and has to be realistic crowd probably hasn't hit it yet."
Oh well. The fact is that it is a fun and enjoyable movie that is filled to the brim with cliches that come with fun and enjoyable movies like this, coupled with a sense of humor that comes out of the blue every now and again to give it a unique feel all too it's own.
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★ 7 / 10
A Harvard "Bum" Makes a Heckuva Movie
view_and_review
I'll admit; "With Honors" grew on me. Initially, I was cool towards it as it looked like some pretentious drivel, but as the movie progressed it grew on me.The…
I'll admit; "With Honors" grew on me. Initially, I was cool towards it as it looked like some pretentious drivel, but as the movie progressed it grew on me.The movie begins with Montgomery "Monty" Kessler (Brendan Frasier) dropping his thesis into a grate where it fell down into the boiler room of a library. By the time he hobbled down there to retrieve it a homeless man named Simon B. Wilder (Joe Pesci) was burning some pages to keep a fire going. When Monty tried to stop him, he attacked him with a metal pipe.Right then and there I had a problem with the movie. A.) why would he grab what clearly looked like important documents and start burning them? B.) who puts paper in a boiler furnace to keep the fire stoked? C.) what was his deal attacking a student of the university he was squatting in?This thesis was of the utmost importance to Monty because it was going to allow him to graduate with honors--hence the title. Simon, however, kept the remainder of the thesis hostage from Monty, whom he derisively called "Harvard," as a means of getting certain benefits from Monty (food, shelter, and other perks). All the while Simon is keeping the thesis hostage and only handing over a page per perk, he is carrying this air of moral superiority and prejudging Monty because he assumed Monty had prejudged him (the best defense is a good offense approach). Simon kept up this demeaning holier-than-thou charade long enough to where I was thinking, "This movie better correct itself soon because they're making this into a rich v. poor thing where the poor guy is inherently morally better because of his poverty."Simon struck me as a cross between Robin Williams' character in "The Fisher King," and Ethan Hawke's character in "Reality Bites." Like Williams in "The Fisher King," Pesci was a short, pudgy, bearded homeless man with above average intelligence. Like Hawke in "Reality Bites," Pesci was almost misanthropic, totally demeaning, and arrogant with his sense of superiority because he isn't a slave to capitalism.So, I was down on Simon and the entire movie to begin with. Then, just as the relationship between Simon and Monty grew, so did my enjoyment of the movie. It developed into a wonderful human-interest story with a side helping of a tolerable romance between Monty and his roommate Courtney Bloomenthal (Moira Kelly). I say tolerable romance because it wasn't too thick.I liked "With Honors" as a complete project and I'm glad I gave it a chance.
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★ 7 / 10
amazing
nefar
So i caught this movie in the store and thought I'd give it a go because of Joe Pesci and Brendan Frasier. It's a very rewarding movie about life, and how…
So i caught this movie in the store and thought I'd give it a go because of Joe Pesci and Brendan Frasier. It's a very rewarding movie about life, and how sometimes we need to step back and see that we're all human. I'll definatly have to commend Brendan on his acting, a great job, and he's won new respect. Heartwarming film.
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TOMATOMETER
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6.8/10
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Great song by Madonna "I'll Remember"!