Harvard Man
by James Toback
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DVD details
Actor: Adrian Grenier, Eric Stoltz, Joey Lauren Adams, Rebecca Gayheart, Sarah Michelle GellarDirector: James Toback
Writer: James Toback
Producer: Alinur Velidedeoglu
Producer: Daniel Bigel
Producer: Donald Kushner
Producer: Edward R. Pressman
Producer: J. Miles Dale
Producer: Jeff Franks
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language)
Format: Color, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 99 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2002-10-29
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Harvard Man
DVD Review: Unexpected appraisal for this film's intelligence !
Summary: 3 Stars
Like most viewers -I suppose- I initially felt curious about the film because of Sarah Michelle Gellar; yet how much more I got, than just SMG- for this film wasn't, first and foremost, all about sexy good looks...
The film's casting is extremely well thought out: both Adrian Grenier (as green "Harvard Boy") and Joey Lauren Adams (as cool, sophisticated philosophy teacher) carry off their respective roles with tremendous talent. What's more, I couldn't find in it one single actor or actress who wasn't EXACTLY what the film needed.
So- superb casting. Adrian Grenier is good precisely for he's such 'your ordinary young Harvard guy'- and Adams, for she's the typecast epitome of sexy, hot and -at first sight- glib coolness. Yet as the film evolves, Adams, especially, turns out to be much more than that- her glibness hiding wisdom far beyond her years (it may well be that Adams' performance was the best among all these -here, very talented- actors/actresses).
Gellar's part, surprisingly, is not a central one. Yet she carries off her Daddy's girl bitchiness, and callous sex appeal, with flying colours (this is probably the film where, to this day, her acting's by far the best- nothing to do with her poor performances in the two "Scooby Doo"-es, or even in the record- breaking [??] "The Grudge"). Rebecca Gayheart and Eric Stoltz (as the two FBI agents, and pretty unhealthy sex-seekers) are perfectly chosen, their acting both cool and convincing, their persona tortuously screwed-up. One special mention I'd give to Giani Russo, as Gellar's maffioso Daddy (strangely enough, Russo's not even credited on the DVD's cover, nor its back- a shame!).
The plot is good; is clever; is full of unexpected twists and turns; and yet, is not at all your average 'crime-thriller', bland all-American product (as easy to watch as it is to forget...).
I shan't go here into the storyline. I'll just say it's sharp; intellectually challenging; affording us plenty of food for thought. Toback's depicting of the developing of a drug addiction is blunt and factual- all the more effective in all that it hints at, rather than it would have, if it'd explicitly and darkly "accused".
So- after such high praise, why do I give this movie ONLY 3 STARS???
For two reasons:
- first, a very disorganised (and often annoying) soundtrack: practically all of the pop sound's good, but... the Bach, good heavens! What's it meant to say- express- CONVEY? Sophistication? Some sort of 'seriousness'?
Well- to me, that Bach IS a misfire.
- second, and also extremely difficult to digest: COLOUR!!! Who on earth may have thought up that drab, dirty brown photography? Did the film, when shown at the movies, show the same tasteless colours? Or -more prosaically- did something go wrong in the developing process??? One couldn't do much worse than this brownish, teal-ish Technicolor mess.
However, attempting to tie up all strings: on the whole, this is a VERY satisfying, sharp, intelligent film, with superb acting, close-to-perfect script and dialogue, and no maudlin soppiness- in fact, definitely a film I'd recommend to all viewers who -in spite of the annoying Bach soundtrack, and the close-to-nauseating colour scheme, at least in its DVD form- like to THINK OVER a film, after seeing it; REFLECTING on what they've seen, as they run the movie in their heads again. This is a film I'd suggest 'intellectually curious and active' people have at home, so they can view it again when they feel like it. For 'Harvard Man', I think, grows on you; and requires much thought, and 'finesse'.
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