Finding Forrester

After directing that awful Psycho remake, Gus Van Sant returns to Good Will Hunting territory with this tepid tribute to J.D. Salinger. Sean Connery plays a reclusive author, who disappeared from public view after writing the novel of the century. He makes friends with a neighborhood kid (an impressive Rob Brown) and tutors him in the art of literature. The acting is OK all around, but the proceedings are remarkably dull for a Van Sant film. The duo of Connery and Brown make the movie worthwhile, despite the shameless rip-off of the lousy Dead Poet’s Society at film’s end. OK entertainment, but perhaps a bit overrated.