With Honors

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source: With Honors

i'm tough on movies. i'm a critic for my college paper and i don't like alot of films i see. "with honors" impressed me, though. i have never liked brenden frasier but he fit this part well. i totally bought him as a harvard student bent on graduating with honors. he begins the movie obsessed with his classes, thinking that receiving his "honors" diploma was all that was important in life for him. he spends day and night studying and working on his senior thesis. when joe pesci's character gets his hands on the only copy of the thesis, though, frasier is forced to focus on other things. pesci handles this role very well. he has never looked like mel gibson or kevin costner or whoever the big leading men are and he was a fine choice to play a down-and-out homeless man. he's a great actor who is probably the reason this movie is labeled "comedy." pesci is seen as a pain by frasier and his roommates for a while, as they see him as being a bum and not an equal to themselves. however, through his kind nature and wisdom from living a very difficult life, he earns their respect and makes them realize that some things are more important than graduating college with honors. life is the thing you want to end with honor. to say these were one-dimensional characters is blatantly false. frasier and each of his roommates grow as a result of their relationship with pesci. they change their whole focuses in life and find what is really important: friendship and honor. pesci's character undergoes his own transformation as he goes from an unlikeable, greedy man to an honorable man with good friends who have great admiration for him. Grade: 9 of 10

Awful. Although Moira Kelly, Brendan Fraser and Joe Pesci are charming and talented, this movie flat out sucked. Every line and situation was as contrived and predictable as it can get. Joe Pesci's scrappy hard-luck case is so "sublime" it's ridiculous.And his accent is simply irritating. Brendan Fraser plays "Stuck Up But Finds Out What Really Matters In Life", which I have seen a bajillion times before. You know what's going to happen from the second your eye catches the box in the video store. That's how predictable it is. I am always amazed at how many people rave over this film. This and Titanic are probably the worst examples of creating one-dimensional characters. Avoid at all costs.

This is a touching little film with very good performances by Joe Pesci (showing some surprising versatility with his character), Brendan Fraser and the supporting players. (Especially Moira Kelly who is just lovely.) The welfare of a person who occupies even the lowest station in life (homeless & broke) outweighs such things as turning in your thesis on time and graduating Harvard with honors. And if you don't find the bitter-sweet ending moving you haven't lived.

Question: How do you screw up a movie with a cast of Brendan Fraser, Patrick Dempsey and Moira Kelly? Answer: It ain't easy, but try adding Joe Pesci. I hope no one actually associates the way Pesci (as Simon Wilder) acted in the movie with real homeless people. In the real world, Montgomery Kessler (played by Brendan Fraser) could have had this arrogant little urchin committed. I've been homeless. I know that real homeless people do not act like they are doing a standup comedy act, or preach constantly (unless it is someone who has psychiatric problems and they are off their meds). I don't know.., I just hate Joe Pesci. That squeaky, little voice coupled with the arrogant, Guido demeanor. He's not funny. He's just irritating. I actually felt sorry for Kessler's roommates when this aggressive, little punk actually weaseled his way into their apartment to "take a bath".

The film with honors is a movie about the troubles of life and how we can't judge people the second we see them, since everybody always has a story. The movie itself is very touching and deep if you are to listen to every word and see what is trying to be said. It's a very sad movie, with a lot of meaning and a lot of emotion. Joe Pesci does a really good job portraying a Bum who is much more than what he seems. Moira Kelley does pretty bad, but Brendan Fraser does surprisingly well. This was one of the few movies that I cried at during the end. A film about Honor and love. It is a film like The Breakfast Club, but in my eyes is much better. This movie really touched me and made me see people differently, one of Joe Pescis line's really touched me. "What did you see when you looked at me Harvard? You didn't see a human being, you saw a piece of sh#t!" As a film I give it 8/10 because it's somewhat slow at the beginning, but as for honor it gets a 10/10. Actually when I think about it, the film entirely is a 10/10.

I was once asked: "What is your favorite movie?" in a graduate school application. I have many movies that I love and I couldn't ever decide on a favorite movie. At the time, however, I had recently watched "With Honors" for about the 20th time and I chose it for my answer. Researching the movie on this website, I was astounded when I discovered that it did not win (well, it wasn't even nominated for) any award on screen writing or acting. It was only nominated for Best Original Song ("I'll Remember", performed by Madonna). The film centers on Montgomery 'Monty' Kessler (Brendan Fraser) a government senior student at Harvard University, who thinks his life depends on his thesis. When his computer crashes, Monty decides that the reasonable thing to do is to rush to make copies of the only hard copy of the thesis he has. But on the way to the copy shop, he has an accident and the thesis falls into the boiler room of the library and into the hands of Simon Wilder (Joe Pesci), a homeless man who has made a makeshift home in there. At first, there is tension between the two, as Monty is outraged for the deal he is forced to make with Simon: for each day of food and shelter, Monty gets one page of the thesis. As time goes by, Monty realizes that there is more to Simon than meets the eye. The relationship between Monty and Simon develops into a strong friendship and Monty soon learns that there is more to life than graduating with honors. I am always moved by the beautiful story and the incredible acting in this film. The performances are so honest that the story seems to have been taken out of real life. The transition in the character of Monty, from a young man that considers grades and recognition to be the most important things in the world, to a man, touched by the life of a "bum" – as Simon refers to himself – who is intelligent and good-natured, and knows the meaning of love. The last few lines in the movie always bring tears to my eyes, as Monty reads Simon's self-written obituary: "He is survived by his family: Jeff Hawks, who always remembers to flush; Everett Calloway, who knows how to use words; Courtney Blumenthal, who is strong, and also knows how to love; and by Montgomery Kessler, who will graduate life with honor, and without regret."

With Honors (1994) *** 1/2 (out of 4) Brendan Fraser plays Monty, a Harvard student who believes that his thesis is going to send him into the perfect life with the perfect job. The only problem is that the papers fall into the hands of a homeless man named Simon (Joe Pesci) who plans on using them to get things that he needs. WITH HONORS was released to some really horrible reviews and I still remember going to see it on its opening weekend and leaving the theater wondering what everyone had missed. The film took a real beating from critics and it didn't do too well at the box office but for my money it was one of the better movies released that year. Is it a masterpiece? Of course not but it's certainly a very good, heart-warming and funny picture. One thing that the film deserves credit for is taking a serious look at being homeless. This includes how someone can become homeless and then it talks about the various issues that happens because of it. I thought the film was very intelligent when it came to the subject matter and unlike so many other movies this one here at least had something to say on its subject. The best thing about the movie were the performances with Pesci leading the way in a very good role. Pesci was on a hot streak during this era as he was coming off the box office hit of HOME ALONE as well as an Oscar-win for GOODFELASS. He really makes a memorable character here as he can handle the drama and the laughs without any problem. Fraser is also very believable in his role and we get some nice support from Moira Kelly, Josh Hamilton and Patrick Dempsey. The film certainly does a very good job at mixing the laughs with the drama and to me WITH HONORS remains a film that never got its due.

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Joe Pesci's performance is cringingly bad, and I don't understand who thought it might be entertaining. I can't help but think that the positive comments written in this space have come from people associated with the film. While he was great in Raging Bull and Goodfellas, Pesci's role in this is just terrible. Besides that, have a good day.