Harvard Man (2001)

an ambitious but ultimately ineffective debut endeavor.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

One of the best movies of the year! Incredible from the beginning to the end.

Chop Suey. A lot of chopped up, mixed up diverse morsels just adding up to a mess. The male lead is supposed to be a college basketball player. He is neither particularly tall nor very muscular. He looks about as athletic as a Kleenex tissue. Joey Lauren Adams has a GREAT voice-for playing a stripper or some such type, not a college professor-of philosophy of all things! Further, she is an item with male lead. I guess she is enchanted with his crooked behavior or his getting stoned out of his head with LSD. Maybe she thinks he looks like Kant. Then there is a gangster, henchmen, FBI agents, all running around for no particular purpose. There is cutting back and forth in time so there is no linear time line. This adds confusion to a film which is already terminally confusing. Sarah Michelle Geller is the one consistent character in the film. She plays it well because she has a part to play. She is a stereotype with no interesting lines, but her part is the closest this film comes to a real character. This was shot around Harvard in Cambridge Mass. I didn't see any scenes inside Harvard itself. Even Harvard could not have been stupid enough to cooperate with the making of this stinker.

I'd give it a zero if I could. Thank goodness I didn't rent this (saw it on TV). The bloatedly egotistical writer/director, who's way too in love with his Harvard degree, wasted a decent idea by creating one-dimensional characters and then casting with second-rate actors -- none of whom is a complex-enough/bright-enough person or skilled-enough actor to convince viewers that they're Harvard students or instructors -- who turned in one-dimensional performances. I can only imagine that he was jumping on the youth bandwagon and thus cast some of the names of the moment, but he would have done better had he gone with unknowns who are actually gifted. Utter waste of time; do not watch this.

Meh, this is an okay time filler that won't stick in your mind for too long. It's the typical American comedy that uses black humor to criticize some aspects of America's politics and culture/society.On the positive side, it's not a typical teen comedy with "toilet humor" or campy situations; it has some decent dialogs and interesting ideas towards drug addiction and mafias.The plot surrounds a sports guy who is obviously the most popular thing in college. He has a sexy hot and kinky girlfriend who happens to be the daughter of a powerful Italian mob man. You know the rest... drugs, basketball, mafia, FBI, a sexy and smart teacher, etc.This movie is not a mess but not a masterpiece. I still recommend it for those who are into teen movies with an edge.

This is a highly entertaining and accurate look at the world Dr H discovered. His "problem child" is indeed a means by which to expand your consciousness. It is highly disappointing to see a writer and production team cop out on a plot line and re-"direct" (uhum) to follow the assumptions and perceptions of the ignorant masses. The negative end-image of this plot line delivers a message of hazard and caution in this world of psychedelics. The case in point is that judgement should be reserved for those who have tread the path...and those who have tread the path do so willingly, consciously, happily and with a greater understanding of themselves and the relativity of things. Is it possible for us all to be so fortunate as to discover our very own truth through a simple mind-body experiment. The experience is not reality...granted. The revelations brought on by engagement with a world within this world is what provides us with the perspective to finally see. i.e. How can you walk a mile in someone else's shoes without unavoidably still wearing your own socks (perceptions). The answer implied is: strip away your own sense of reality, your own consciousness and you will have successfully placed yourself out of your box. QED - time to expand your minds