Finding Forrester Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		1.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		1.5
Overall		2.0

Finding Forrester Blu-ray Movie Review

A decent movie saddled with a DVD-era upscale-esque video presentation...

Reviewed by Kenneth Brown December 11, 2023

"You're the man now, dog!" "You're the man now, dog?" "You're the man now... dog." Sigh. For all its good intentions, Finding Forrester is a product of a rapidly bygone era; one in which a rich white success story can, with a straight face and no raised eyebrows from his young black protege, shout, "you're the man now, dog" with the utmost seriousness. It's a moment meant to land. To mean something. To resonate. I burst into laughter. I had forgotten how ridiculous writer Mike Rich's out-of-touch melodrama really was. I skipped back three times and listened to it anew over and over. It's perhaps the most 2000s thing I've heard in a long, long time. Of course, this single line is merely emblematic of director Gus Van Sant's entire film, a tired racial generational socioeconomic different-sides-of-the-tracks coming of age story in which Sean Connery's reclusive writer befriends and comes to mentor a gifted young African American high school student. It isn't an entirely offensive movie, just a dated, saccharine, wholly predictable flick that offers simple solutions and trite cinematic inspiration in place of any real exploration of the challenges faced by disadvantaged inner city teens that dare to dream.

A unique relationship develops between reclusive novelist William Forrester (Sean Connery) and amazingly gifted, African American scholar- athlete Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown). When the curmudgeonly eccentric discovers that the young man is also an excellent writer, he secretly takes the teen on as his protégé. As they learn more about each other, the pair develop the unlikeliest of friendships, learn more about themselves and, ultimately, face decisions with long-lasting ramifications neither one may be fully prepared to handle. The Gus Van Sant drama also stars F. Murray Abraham, Anna Paquin, Matt Damon, Busta Rhymes, Michael Pitt, April Grace and Michael Nouri.

A thinly veiled avatar for "Catcher in the Rye" author J.D. Salinger, Connery's Forrester is a white savior trope wrapped in a grumpy old cuss you just know you'll eventually come to love. But then Wallace hides behind basketball (of all things) instead of letting his friends know about his true talents, so... hm. It's all problematic from the get-go when viewed through a 21st lens. If you loved The Help you'll be confused as to why, and if you rolled your eyes upon the mere mention of the 2011 Best Picture-nominated period drama, you aren't confused one bit. Suffice to say Finding Forrester hasn't aged well, nor does it address the lopsided power dynamics in the relationship at the heart of the story. Wallace deserves attention because, well, he's a genius. And he needs other geniuses to notice his gift, nurture his insecurities and propel him to greatness because... he can't do any of that himself? He's trapped in his own self-doubt? He's a product of his culture and economic trappings? Wait a minute. Someone needs to let the director of Good Will Hunting know another filmmaker stole his movie and just swapped math for creative writing. Who directed Good Will Hunting anyway? Gus Van Sant? Ooooohhh. Is self-plagiarism a thing?

Still, as rehashes of much better films go, Finding Forrester could be worse. A lot worse. When it was released in 2000, it was often lauded for its performances and story. "An intelligent, subtle, in short remarkable take on growing up, being true to yourself and fighting the odds" wrote a critic for the BBC. Adding that it's "also an unusual, touching tale of friendship." High praise, albeit overly glowing. There are highs. Brown (not so much Connery, whose writer lacks the agency of the young Wallace) anchors the tale with a more authentic performance than the script affords. It's his screen debut yet he handles himself with the ease of someone twice his age, infusing personal experiences into a part that rarely prompts the actor to dive beneath the surface. (To his great credit, he finds ways to do so anyway.) Brown brings welcome nuance to a role written, intentionally or unintentionally, as a stereotype; a role without much in the way of subtlety on the page, particularly when Wallace is being utilized to explore obstacles in the African American community, which are dealt with either superficially or in a manner befitting 2000 but not 2023. It's more than possible my perspective is being tainted by more modern sensitivities.

But whereas Good Will Hunting still works on almost every level twenty-seven years after the fact, Finding Forrester relies on conventions and cultural clashes of its era. In short, it simply hasn't aged well. Don't get me wrong, racism is alive and well in the 2020s, and F. Murray Abraham's crotchety, oppositional Robert Crawford represents that reality with growling aplomb. It's the rest of Wallace's world that seems so quaint and antiquated. I didn't need or expect a treatise on police brutality, racial profiling or other complexities that are better understood or at least more widely recognized today than they were in 2000. But I would have appreciated more time being spent examining other hurdles to Wallace's success, not just charges of plagiarism by a cranky old white professor. And I certainly would have rather Van Sant come up with a different climax than one that seems to directly swipe the ending from Scent of a Woman, where Al Pacino's Frank Slade rescues Chris O'Donnell's Charlie Simms from the accusations of an abusive teacher and the punishment of a prep school's administrative panel.

I know, I know. You'd think from everything I just wrote that I hated Finding Forrester. So what gives with my awarding it an above average score? I'm still a sucker for scenes between a genius and his protege, and the bulk of the film has some great interplay between Brown and Connery (minus the aforementioned "you're the man now, dog"). I'm not the biggest Connery fan -- how do so few people remember that he openly condoned, several times, hitting women? -- but here he works against type, fashioning less of a brilliant man of mystery and more of a debilitated, mentally ill, asocial eccentric. Paired with Brown's bright-eyed, soft-hearted old soul of a teenager, the duo manage to rise above the film's dated conventions and formulaic plotting, creating two people connecting at a level that wouldn't normally be in the cards for either one. That's the message that rings true; two different generations, two different races, two different experiences overcoming adversity and the distance between their social statuses to accomplish a number of things that simultaneously benefit each of them individually and both of them as unlikely friends. It's true of Forrester and Wallace in the movie, and true of Connery and Brown on set.

Finding Forrester Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

It's been a long, long time since I've seen a Blu-ray video transfer that's as bad as Mill Creek's 1080p/AVC-encoded video transfer of Finding Forrester. Yes, the source is very clearly a horribly antiquated DVD-era master, but there is more to cringe at here than just that. My goodness, what issue doesn't pop up frequently and obviously throughout the presentation? Image-wide macroblocking is everywhere. Rarely a scene passes without it. Crush is terrible. Edge halos, banding, pixelation, dips and dives in clarity, poor fine detail, more macroblocking and artifacting... it's one big mess. Colors are undersaturated most of the time, contrast is dim and dull throughout, black levels struggle to drift as deep as they should, edge definition is akin to standard definition, fine textures are muddled and haphazardly resolved, grain is chunky and inconsistent, and the entire transfer looks like (read: might as well be) an upscaled DVD. And honestly, I've seen upscaled DVDs that look far better than this. All of that may sound like a wild exaggeration, particularly when review after review I found online was quick to excuse problems and give a solid thumbs up to the Blu-ray presentation. But I invite you... no, I strongly recommend that you peruse the screenshots attached to this review. I took forty (the max) because I couldn't believe how awful it all was. I even ejected the disc and checked to make sure I hadn't received a DVD copy in error. Mill Creek Entertainment has a less-than-glowing reputation for subpar releases and problematic video transfers but this one takes the gangrenous cake. (What a disgusting image, though one I'd still rather watch than the presentation under discussion.) I can't for the life of me find one thing to compliment about this disc. Scratch that. The menu screen genuinely boasts a striking high definition bit of art. After that, it's not downhill. It's off a cliff.

Finding Forrester Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Finding Forrester's DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track delivers a solid lossless experience. Though a front-heavy, conversation-forward film, there are still several locations that utilize the rear speakers in involving ways: crowded school halls and auditoriums, bustling Brooklyn basketball courts, busy streets full of passersby and traffic, and others. Directionality is decent; a tad inconsistent, coming and going only when more aggressive environments call for it, but accurate when in use. Likewise, LFE output lends welcome weight, albeit too infrequently to be as helpful or engaging as it could be. Thankfully, dialogue is always clean and clear, prioritization is spot on, and channel pans are nice and smooth. This isn't a track that will elicit a lot of compliments, but it also isn't a significant disappointment in any way.

Finding Forrester Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Found: Rob Brown (SD, 12 minutes) - Van Sant and co. discover the young actor who'd go on to play Jamal.

• Making of Finding Forrester (SD, 15 minutes) - An HBO behind-the-scenes EPK-style featurette from 2000.

• Deleted Scene (SD, 3 minutes) - A single deleted scene of a school choir singing Mozart's Lacrimosa.

Finding Forrester Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Even if I loved Finding Forrester, nothing could save this subpar Blu-ray release from disappointment, and nothing could convince me that its video transfer was anything more than the worst Blu-ray video presentation I've reviewed in a long time. Oh, it offers a decent DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround track and includes a few supplements, but you'll find a more attractive image by taking a video of your breakfast oatmeal in the dark and watching it for two hours. Okay, that's a little much. Deep breath. If Finding Forrester is your favorite movie, I mean, I guess here ya go. But if it's anything less than a movie you must own, do not consider this edition. Rumor has it (though I haven't watched it) that the UK Region B-locked release of the film fares far better. That edition might be worth exploring.