The Graduate (1967)

Normally I don't care for romantic comedies or dramedies, but this is the rare exception. I'm more into 1980s and 1990s films, but this is a good blast from the past. And I'd seen this movie spoofed lots of times, especially on The Simpsons. Not only that, it takes place in the Bay Area, and the state of California at large. Dustin Hoffman did such a wonderful job in this, and The Graduate is one of the few of his films I've actually watched. I'd seen part of Kramer Versus Kramer but this is better. It's good for those of you who like nonviolent romantic stories. Give this a chance.

It's the funny, satirical, outrageous, quirky yet touching combination that inspired Woody Allen and Wes Anderson, and above all that it's a human study that will never age. (8.5/10)

A movie about the coming of age, and a disenchanted college graduate wondering about his future and trying to escape the predestined path his parents want him to follow. The movie shows his idle life through in his eyes lost in his thoughts, in the cross fading, the close-up shots, and Simon and Garfunkel songs. The hesitating young man becomes a self-confident man after having an affair with a mature woman. When he falls in love with her daughter, the life he seeks eventually becomes obvious to him.

I can't say I connected with this movie either on its comic level or on its dramatic level. I'm giving this two stars because I liked the soundtrack (although I thought both "Sound of Silence" and "Scarborough Fair" were repeated a few too many times) and the cinematography. The characters and story I didn't care for at all.If I had to describe this movie in one word, it would be "unconvincing." Most of the characters' actions seemed to have weak or nonexistent motivations. Why does Mrs. Robinson admit to Benjamin that she married her husband because of an unplanned pregnancy? Why does he hate her so much when she tells him to stay away from her daughter? Why do he and Elaine suddenly fall in love after not seeing each other in years? Why does he suddenly want to marry her? Why does she suddenly want to marry him?As others have pointed out, the awkward and unfocused behavior of the main character does not seem consistent with what we find out about him at the start of the film, which is that he has won academic awards and is also a successful athlete. This movie reminded me of one of my favorite books, The Catcher in the Rye. Both stories are about young men who don't quite know what they're doing with themselves and both have a kind of ambiguous ending. The difference between Holden Caulfield and Benjamin is that Holden's behavior throughout the book makes sense given what we already know about him. At the start, we know he's an academic failure and holds many of the people (especially the adults) he knows in contempt.Some people hate the book, because of Holden Caulfield's constant whining and complaining. But J. D. Salinger didn't mean for the reader to think of him as a hero. We are supposed to see Holden as a bit of a whiner. Some people will find him endearing and will see his whining more as understandable observations about life. Others won't, and that's okay. But I'm a bit confused about how we're supposed to view Benjamin. Is he a hero or an antihero? Are we supposed to sympathize with him in the end, when he runs off with a married woman, essentially on a whim? I think that the answer to the second one is no (we're supposed to infer, I think, that Benjamin and Elaine might end up in the same situation as Mr. and Mrs. Robinson), but that the answer to the first is the former - no character who is meant to be sympathetic reproaches him and he doesn't seem to ever have any moments of serious self-awareness. We're supposed to accept that he makes mistakes, but never think that he's obnoxious or unpleasant. One of the big problems with The Graduate is that we find out very little about Benjamin's worldview. Holden accomplishes very little by the end of The Catcher in the Rye, but we at least know what he thinks about just about everything. Benjamin says he is concerned about his future, and the movie would have been more interesting if this concern had been highlighted throughout it, but it's forgotten after Benjamin starts his affair with Mrs. Robinson.Also, this is supposed to be a comedy and I'll admit that I didn't think it was funny. The only part that made me crack a smile was when Benjamin and Elaine run away from her wedding and he uses a cross to fend off her parents, her fiancé (who is actually her husband at that point), and the guests, and uses it to bolt the church doors. But comedy is highly subjective, obviously, so other people may have found this movie to be quite humorous. Lastly, I think I should assure anyone reading this and thinking I disliked the movie because of prudish concerns, that isn't the case.