On April 1994 Warner Bros. and
Spring Creek Productions released a predictable movie with a simple plot that
rocked many viewers into tears. Directed
by a Harvard graduate named Alek Keshishian “With Honors” is a film which
manages to shine through its many flaws.
This dramatic comedy is the story of an over animated Harvard student
whose life centers on his senior thesis.
Through a series of events he comes to meet an amicable bum who, you
guessed it, becomes a father figure and changes his life forever. Even through its predictable plot and a
script which is good but not the best of its kind, the acting and editing in
this film captivates the audience and wraps them in emotion. Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci who play Monty
and Simon respectively deliver such a performance which will bring even the
most lacking script to life. Moira
Kelly, Patrick Dempsey, Josh Hamilton and Gore Vidal play the supporting roles
in this film and their performances are worth a mention. These performances are even further enhanced
by the editing work in the movie which brings it all together for a cinematic
experience hard to forget. This movie
easily deserves a rating of 8.5/10 because through its many flaws it still
shines like a diamond in the rough. “With Honors is 103 minutes long and was
rated PG-13 by the Motion Pictures Association of America (MPAA).
“With
Honors” is the story of Montgomery “Monty” Kessler (Bendan Fraser) a Harvard government
student whose life revolves around graduating from the university with honors,
so he can make a change in the world.
Upon his computer crashing and losing his senior thesis he is left with
only a single hard copy of his work.
Through a funny set of circumstances the only copy of his thesis ends up
in the hands of a bum by the name of Simon Wilder (joe Pesci) who strikes a
deal with Monty who he calls Harvard.
Simon uses the pages of the thesis as a form of currency with Monty and
exchanges them for different favors such as food, shelter and even a very
hilarious bath. Throughout the film
Simon and Monty’s relationship starts altering how the Harvard student, along
with his quirky roommates, sees the world around them. They develop such a relationship that they
drop everything to help the bum when he encounters health and family problems We learn to not judge books by their covers
and that academics and the worlds perception of one’s self is not how we should
define happiness.
This
film is one that has many flaws but also many virtues that shine through. We will start off by analyzing the defects in
the film and we will then look at the redeeming qualities that make this such a
great film. Now many might say that
there is no new stories and that movies can no longer be original because
everything has been used up, even if this were true films can still be
innovative and surprising; all of which “With Honors” is not. Even though the plot of this film is touching
and it teaches a lesson the film is in no way original and to top it off it is
completely predictable. The only way to
enjoy the film is to come to terms with the fact that you will not come out of
it amazed by its story telling innovation, instead you have to go in expecting
one of those classic stories. The story
aside most aspects of the film are not impressive but are also not bad. The costumes, sets and props in the film are accurate
but not overly impressive due to the nature of the film. The script of the film is also average in
nature with the casual breathtaking bits such as Simon’s speech in front of
Monty’s Government class. Finally the cinematography and music in the film are
well done but not of much note and overall these aspects of the film are
nothing more than average.
At
this point many of you are wondering “then why did you give this film an
8.5/10?” and the reason comes from two aspects of this film. First and most importantly is the sheer
brilliance that the editing of this film expresses. Through post-production editing this film is
turned from an average movie into a piece of art that expresses deeper emotions
by putting all the parts together. The music
chosen for this film is your average extra diegetic mood music; however through
amazing work by the editing crew there are moments when this music is in such
sync with the images that they take the emotion of scene to the next
level. This is obvious in the library
scene when Monty and Simon first start becoming friends; the music
accompaniment is done just right to relieve the previous tension and turns the
library into this familiar and almost holy place. Even more amazing than the sound editing in
the film is how the visuals are put together.
Often in this film we hear dialogue before or after the character is put
on the screen, this technique is used effectively to set the tone for a scene
with the presence of the character being the first thing we perceive instead of
their physical look. He visual effects
are used so well that the film seems to not only express emotions but the whole
scene is engulfed in them. Fade ins and
fade outs are particularly masterfully used for both video and sound in one of
the final scenes where all the roommates are reading Whitman’s “Leaves of Grass”
to Simon. Thanks to the editing we don’t
see just reading, instead we see as all four Harvard students melt into one in
a single sad emotion. Overall the
editing for this film takes on a life of its own and is the crown jewel of the
production.
One
thing that can make or break a film is the quality of the acting by the stars
and supporting cast of the production.
In “With Honors” this is one of the two things that definitely make the
movie; the acting by the support staff is magnificent but what shines through
it all is the performances given by both Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci. There have been many young student and elder
father figure duos throughout the history of film; however none have played
such a convincing part as these two.
From the beginning of the film where they annoy each other, to the last
and most emotional of scenes Monty and Simon touch our hearts in a way that cannot
be written in a script, specially this script.
These two actors take average characters and turn them into a family
which the audience is invited to join through the openness of their acting and
their vulnerability of their emotion. If
it wasn’t for these two actors enhancing the script and putting their emotion
into the story this film would not have been as good as it was.
Even
though this film is predictable in its story and standard in most of its
aspects it deserves to be recognized as a great work. This is because the post-production editing
along with the amazing performances by the different actors brings the film
from average to a whole new level.
Without these things working together “With Honors” would be nothing
more than another movie to be ignored. This
being said the film does contain these things and so it becomes a movie that
not only shows/emotion but wraps the audience in it and moves them to
tears. This film deserves nothing less
than an 8.5/10 rating and a huge encouragement from this reviewer to all the
readers to give this film a watch.
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