Finding Forrester
You can find him in the Scent of a Woman aisle. Next to all the other "Young man taught life lessons by crippled mentor, but it looks as if the crippled mentor could learn a lesson or two as well" films.
Except, this time, nobody says "Hoo-wa!" but rather, "Punch the keys!" Like Al Pacino, Sean Connery plays Forrester both crotchety and haunted. While Forrester is not blind, he is disabled. And while his charge is not a fresh-faced white kid, a fresh-faced black kid fills the bill.
In both films, the nemesis is a priggish, empty-suit of an educator who does his dastardly deeds mainly out of insecurity and spite. In fact, Finding Forrester makes Scent of a Woman seem almost subtle, in that the bad guy in Finding Forrester (F. Murray Abraham) actually whispers to our young hero "Don't ever embarrass me in front of my class again." I suppose the writer thought the scene in which our young hero embarrassed Abraham in front of his class too nuanced, even though Abraham actually got his ruddy face to redden in indignation.
In Scent of a Woman, the day is saved by the unexpected appearance of Pacino, who stands behind the boy in his hour of need. In Finding Forrester, Connery makes the same entrance, but instead of saving the boy, he (SPOILER) slits his throat with an unseen dagger.
Okay, he doesn't do that. He does the same thing Pacino did, just a little less loud.
By-the-numbers made just a little more bearable because director Gus Van Sant makes things visually interesting; rapper Busta' Rhymes is around for a few yucks; and, Al Pacino is not in it. Grade: C-.
