"Finding Forrester" brings together as unlikely a set of talents as you'd want to spend two and a half hours with. That's a lot of time. Some say perhaps too much.
Anyhow, Forrester (Sean Connery) is a crusty, old reclusive writer living in a mostly black Bronx ghetto who is drawn out of his shell by a young African-American college student, Jamal (Robert Brown), who has a basketball scholarship and a knack for the written word.
Sound corny? Well, the saving grace is director Gus Van Sant who saves the story from prohibitive sentimentality, according to most of the people who review movies.
Forrester wrote a hugely successful novel about 40 years ago, after which he hasn't strayed far from the family apartment in the South Bronx. Critics wonder if the appearance of Jamal in Forrester's life is enough reason to bring about the about face in Forrester, as he takes on the task of mentoring Jamal.
Jamal attends an elite prep school on his scholarship where he has to contend with a hostile instructor, none other than F. Murray Abraham, who did a bang-up job of tormenting Motzart in "Amadeus."
This is a film debut for Brown, and by all accounts, a very good one. Reviews say he captures Jamal's intelligence as well as his street smarts. And he wins over Connery in the process, so he must know a thing or two – after all, 007 you may remember, is nobody's fool.
The movie is rated PG-13 for some language and sexual reference.
It is playing at Diamond Cinemas.