Harvard Man (2001)

Alan Jensen (Adrian Grenier) is the star basketball player at Harvard. They're not that good in a league nobody cares about other than gamblers. His girlfriend Cindy Bandolini (Sarah Michelle Gellar) is the daughter of a mob boss. He's also sleeping with his philosophy professor Chesney Cort (Joey Lauren Adams). Alan's parents lose their home in a tornado. Cindy offers him a way to make money fast by shaving points. Instead of her father, she borrows money from her father's associates Teddy Carter (Eric Stoltz) and Kelly Morgan (Rebecca Gayheart). Unbeknownst to her, they're actually FBI agents.The visual style and dialog mannerisms overwhelm the plot. The classical music, quick paced speaking patterns, and camera work leaves this struggling to flow properly. It never has a chance to breathe. The actors are good for a more natural style but they're not great enough to pull this off. The movie is simply trying too hard.

Basketball is a winter sport, right? Hmmmm. Based upon this movie, it's interesting that, in Cambridge, MASSACHUSETTS the weather during basketball season allows for sleeveless clothing outdoors, leaves on the trees and no snow or ice on the ground. Trust me, I live in the Boston area - even a freak warm spell during the months of b'ball season would not look like this.So - aside from the fact that this is just a very bad movie - they didn't even try for authenticity. Especially when so much of the movie's backdrop is the Harvard campus and Cambridge. No wonder I had never heard of this movie until it was broadcast on TV and nothing else was on to watch!Well, I'm sure I can find something else . . . gotta go find the remote!

I have owned this movie for quite some time, mainly because SMG is in it and I'm a big fan of BTVS, but I had never gotten around to watching it until last night. I have to say, I was pretty disappointed. I mean, I'm supposed to feel sorry for this guy? He's shamelessly sleeping with two women at the same time, and getting tripped out on LSD. What do I care if he gets out of his mess? He's not a good guy, in spite of the fact that the movie half-heartedly attempts to make him seem so, since he is trying to get money together for his parents to replace their home, which got blown away by a tornado. Here's a quick summary: This guy is going to Harvard, and plays basketball for them. He is sleeping with SMG's character, whose father is a big time mobster. He is also sleeping with Joey Lauren Adams' character, who happens to be one of his teachers. His parent's home gets blown away by a tornado. He wants to help them replace it, so he asks SMG to ask her father for the money. She says he can have the money if he promises to fix a basketball game that has been bet on, so even more money can be won. The FBI gets wind of this, and try to cause a lot of trouble for SMG and her father. They attempt to get this guy to turn them in. The FBI team (a boy and a girl who his other girlfriend happens to be having regular threesomes with) let his other girlfriend know what's going on, and she tries to get him out of it. While all this chaos is going on, this guy is totally tripped out on LSD, hearing voices, hallucinating, etc. Pretty ridiculous. So, basically, my main problem with this movie was that I didn't like any of these characters. None of them seemed like good people, like anyone that I would care much one way or the other what happened to them. No sympathy for anyone. So, I was actually sitting through the whole movie, hoping it would be over soon because I was tired of watching it. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone. The only good point: I thought Sarah Michelle Gellar did a good job with her part. She was very believable. I didn't think of her as Buffy once during this movie.

The people who didn't like this movie were clearly expecting something different. Did the casting of SMG make them think it would be a brainless teen comedy? I can see why you'd be disappointed if you don't like movies that require you to think. James Toback is brilliant, and so is this movie.Definitely get it on DVD so you can listen to the director's commentary.This movie is about philosophy and self discovery, but it isn't preachy or trying too hard to be "deep". It is full of interesting, multi-dimensional characters.The visual techniques of the film are uniquely appropriate to the subject matter and emotional "feel" of the film.