Simply A Masterpiece

One of my all time favorites.

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

Excellent and certainly provocative... If nothing else, the film is a real conversation starter.

With Honors is not a great movie. Nor is it a good movie at that, but I found the film to be a satisfying experience for one or two reasons. First, the actors do what they can with the messy script, which isn't much, although it has its moments, like one scene involving Pesci and a lecture. Fraser and Pesci really do their best with what they're given and I respect that. Their acting really "makes" the movie cause the story is not really believable, if you really think about what is going down on screen.Second, the film delivers a good message, even if it gets lost at times during the movie's sappiness. That's actually a good word to describe the last act of the movie: sappy. The movie tries to be a comedy, then tries to be a drama and then the process repeats itself so you really don't know what the movie is until the last few minutes.With Honors is messy, but some pretty good acting and interesting messages save the movie from being a mess, and although it's by no means a great film, it's an OK one.

With Honors tells a tale about a homeless man who meets a group of Harvard students and this leads to an awkward relationship wherein he becomes their new professor about the real world and life in general. The homeless man is portrayed by Joe Pesci while Brendan Fraser,Moira Kelly,Patrick Dempsey and Josh Hamilton were cast as the students. This film feature was directed by Alek Keshishian,who happens to have a degree from Harvard.This could have been a great film considering that it has a talented cast like Pesci who happens to be an Academy Award winner,it was just too bad that it has a somewhat a simplistic screenplay. It was contrived and clichéd as the viewer could have seen how the relationship with the homeless man and the students would turn out,how the conflicts will be resolved and the conclusion that came to happens to be no surprise at all.Added to that,the cast wasn't able to elevate it due to average performances despite having being talented and the direction was far from being wonderful.

I saw this movie when it first came out. If not for the comedic scenes early on, I might have fallen asleep. I'm glad I didn't. We don't often see movies that have dialog as real as this one. This ensemble cast just...plain...works. The heart-breaking reunion and the final graduation scene are forever stamped into my memory. And the real meaning of "With Honors" will remain with me for all time. Years later, I still have several pebbles in a bag representing MY fondest memories. This is a movie for everyone. I have acquired many movies over the years, but this is still one of my all-time favorites. Only Brendan and Joe have gone on to "stardom", but the rest of the cast makes their roles possible and memorable

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."