Product Description

Armed with a copy of a harvard student's thesis, a homeless man makes the desperate student an offer: in exchange for food and a place to stay during the harsh winter, he will return the thesis one page at a time.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8461 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 1999-05-18
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 101 minutes

Amazon.com
Joe Pesci gives his most likable performance to date, elevating this predictable comedy-drama. A stuck-up Harvard senior (Brendan Fraser) believes his life is ruined when an educated bum (Pesci) finds his thesis. The bum wants to trade each page for a favor during a harsh New England winter. Of course, the student learns more from his new friend than from the halls of Harvard. Some silly, melodramatic parts including an unbelievable classroom lecture make this comedy tiring at times. But the cast and dialogue ring truer than the tired plot. A solid first feature from Alek Keshishian (Truth or Dare), who graduated with honors from Harvard. --Doug Thomas

Customer Reviews

All around feel good movie!
I have had this movie since it was released and just recently upgraded to a DVD version. It has a wonderful plot and great characters. This was before (sorta) Brendan Fraser got that horrible type cast as George of the Jungle and the like, and proves that he is a talented actor as well. Moira Kelly is also fantastic as the sexy coed obsessed with sex (I recommend The Cutting Edge for Moira fans). Definetly an A+ script with A+ actors. Funny, witty, sentimental and a feel good movie.

a different take on college characters
With Honors certainly has its problems. It's predictable and more than occasionally cheesy. But the cast make it well worth watching. They do their best with the lines they're given, and all of them actually act--facial expressions and physical cues and changes in tone of voice instead of just reciting the lines. Brendan Fraser's character visibly relaxes as the story progresses, and Joe Pesci's performance is simply great.

More to the point (for me, anyway), this is the only "college movie" I can recall seeing where the student protagonists are actually concerned both about academics and about attempting to grow as people, rather than being on a perpetual quest for spring break/girls/boys/beer/all of the above. Even better, the writer attempts to be serious about student worries instead of taking the easier route of mocking the nerds. When the script comes down off its soapbox, it's a fine ensemble show about the high cost of trying not to need other people. Beneath his defiant exterior, Simon (Joe Pesci) is haunted by the family he abandoned; Monty (Brendan Fraser) hides behind academic achievement because his grades can't walk out on him like his father did; Courtney (Moira Kelly) settles for an empty physical relationship with a good-looking jerk because her emotions are tied up in her efforts to reach out to Monty. Ultimately, I liked With Honors less because of the warm fuzzy moral point it was trying to make than because I liked the characters. Most unusually for any movie, I could relate to most of the characters. Cheers to the writer and especially the actors for making their characters real.

You will leave this movie without a feeling of time wasted.
I watched this movie and, for the first time, something magical happened; I admired a homeless man. I think if any movie has the power to turn people's concept of what's trashy into something admirable or great, you have to watch it. This movie also gives that 80's impression, like such movies as "Breakfast Club" and "Pretty in Pink". But you can tell that it isn't quite like that decade, since there are not all these punk rock losers without talent that somehow become fashion statements and successful rock stars. This movie fits in with "Reality Bites", for example, because the movie people are beginning to integrate more class and knowledge into their movie. But once again, "With Honors" is a very good movie for the person that once to remember the 80's or early 90's. This movie has a tendency to leave you feeling good, so you can watch it over and over again. Not too intense. Very kick back. Last thing, the soundtrack has an interesting mix from jazz to rock to soft.