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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
PESCI'S PHILOSOPHY, March 27, 2005
WITH HONORS is a thoughtful and well done little "slice of life" with a moral we've all heard before: do what makes you happy and take time to live your life. Director Alex Keshishian and screenwriter William Mastrosimone, however, don't knock you over the head with its theme and/or morals. There are some scenes where you're expecting the probable to happen and they don't: e.g., after Simon cooks Gorky, the rooster, you expect his master to be furious---when Simon finally meets up with the son he abandoned, you expect some kind of tearful reunion----and you certainly think Monty is going to graduate with honors. The end results of these scenes, however, avoid the usual cliche. Joe Pesci is delightfully understated in his role, and although he never really becomes coochy coo loveable, you understand his pains and shortcomings; Brendan Fraser starts out pretty snooty and insufferable but as he matures in his relationship with both Pesci and Moira Kelly (who is delightful as Courtney), Fraser becomes a more sympathetic character; Patrick Dempsey adds some lightweight humor as Gorky's master, and Josh Hamilton eschews the usual pain in the butt role with a believable and touching change of heart.
The movie is definitely manipulative, but its heart is in the right place and its cast takes it seriously, so it ends up being a charming little film with a strong reaffirmation of the human spirit.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
All around feel good movie!, December 28, 2000
By A Customer
I have had this movie since it was released and just recently upgraded to a DVD version. It has a wonderful plot and great characters. This was before (sorta) Brendan Fraser got that horrible type cast as George of the Jungle and the like, and proves that he is a talented actor as well. Moira Kelly is also fantastic as the sexy coed obsessed with sex (I recommend The Cutting Edge for Moira fans). Definetly an A+ script with A+ actors. Funny, witty, sentimental and a feel good movie.
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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
a different take on college characters, November 12, 2000
By A Customer
With Honors certainly has its problems. It's predictable and more than occasionally cheesy. But the cast make it well worth watching. They do their best with the lines they're given, and all of them actually act--facial expressions and physical cues and changes in tone of voice instead of just reciting the lines. Brendan Fraser's character visibly relaxes as the story progresses, and Joe Pesci's performance is simply great. More to the point (for me, anyway), this is the only "college movie" I can recall seeing where the student protagonists are actually concerned both about academics and about attempting to grow as people, rather than being on a perpetual quest for spring break/girls/boys/beer/all of the above. Even better, the writer attempts to be serious about student worries instead of taking the easier route of mocking the nerds. When the script comes down off its soapbox, it's a fine ensemble show about the high cost of trying not to need other people. Beneath his defiant exterior, Simon (Joe Pesci) is haunted by the family he abandoned; Monty (Brendan Fraser) hides behind academic achievement because his grades can't walk out on him like his father did; Courtney (Moira Kelly) settles for an empty physical relationship with a good-looking jerk because her emotions are tied up in her efforts to reach out to Monty. Ultimately, I liked With Honors less because of the warm fuzzy moral point it was trying to make than because I liked the characters. Most unusually for any movie, I could relate to most of the characters. Cheers to the writer and especially the actors for making their characters real.
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