ARTS
'Honors' gets B+
Pesci gives students a life lesson

'I never lived in a trailer and I never
fornicated with a live chicken.
Howeve, the autumn of my years is
still ahead of me.'
- John Waters

By Micah Berryhill
With its triatic function as a love
story, a narration of friendship, and a
message of goodwill, "With Honors"
presents a heartfelt movie that brings
together the opposing worlds of a
With Honors
Directed by Alek
Keshishian; written by
William Mastrosimone; with
Joe Pesci, Brendan Fraser
and Moira Kelly.
Harvard student and a regular street
bum.
Monty Kessler (Brendan Fraser
- Encino Man himself) is a Harvard
student working on his senior thesis
to graduate with honors in govern-
ment. After a power outage plays
with his fate as a future politician, by
failing to save the eighty-eight page
piece on his computer, he is forced
out into the dead winter cold to make
copies of his only printout. On his
late night jaunt, Monty accidentally
trips, sending his lone copy into the
dark depths of the library's boiler
room- also the home of Simon B.
Wilder (Joe Pesci). Monty's thesis,
commonly referred to as "his life," is
now in the hands of a bum.
Thus begins the love/hate rela-
tionship between the two, in which
Simon uses Monty's thesis as a barter
tool to get through the winter's chill.
Simon exchanges with Monty a page

of his thesis for each act of goodwill,
such as food, blankets, etc.
During this arrangement, a strong
bond develops up until Simon's ill-
ness, caused by asbestos inhalation
twenty years ago, takes a turn for the
worse. The audience views the trans-
formation of Monty from a "hard
hearted jerk," whose life revolves
around the pages of his thesis, to a
caring individual, concerned for life
around him. Monty sacrifices gradu-
ating with honors to spend time with
a dying friend.
However, don't think that this
movie it just full of dramatic sub-
stance that makes you stop and think
about the cruel, harsh world. Through-
out this tale lingers slices of comedy.
The outstanding cast plays as Monty's
housemates which includes Patrick
Dempsey as Everet Calloway, a mod-
ern day Casanova juggling women
and wine. He also provides a few
chuckles as Harvard's radio D.J. with
a rooster as the centerpiece to his
program. Moira Kelly, who played
the ice queen in "The Cutting Edge,"
now plays a fun-loving tomboy, in
which her and Monty develop a ro-
mantic relationship near the movie's
end. And Josh Hamilton plays an
annoying, up-tight medical student,
concerned with only himself.
"With Honors" is definitely a must
see movie. Although it is a bit too
saturated with drama, it has a fair
amount of laughs. An extra perk is
that this is the first movie of Joe
Pesci's where he is not totally annoy-

In this scene from "With Honors," Joe Pesci is telling the class, "N(
ing! With the balance of seriousness 4
and humor, "With Honors" sends out
an important message.
In the movie's end, Monty fails to o
graduate with honors from Harvard. o a i
However, he does graduate as a new By Michael Thomi
man, with more honor than a Harvard Last Fiday, thee
degree can give. His most valuable opened.yThe , lfstel
lesson was not found in his govern- a homeless maTs who
ment books or in his pessimistic the- In an interview A
sis that " rethinks the naive faith in Brendan Eraser ("Scl
the wisdom of the people." It was Love"), as well as tht
found in Simon's life as a bum. It was candidly about what i
the realization that whether a big shot through a long wintei
or a bum, we are all human-just One of the first an
trying to get by the best we can. work with Joe Pesci?
WITH HONORS is playing at "Delightful," said
Briarwood and Showcase. ,..t ,,cr ts

Newcomer Grant buries all others

By Johanna Flies
Forget Liam Neeson. Forget
Daniel Day-Lewis. Forget Tim Roth.
They are all old hat. Hugh Grant, the
Four Weddings
and a Funeral
Written by Richard Curtis;
directed by Mike Newell;
with Hugh Grant and Andie
MacDowell.
bodacious British bob from "Four
Weddings and a Funeral," is the new
screen scream. Cute as a button and
sharp as a tack, if he was a broom,
you'd want to be the handle and sweep
all your earthly cares away. Take a
swim in the blue limpid pools of his,

eyes. Stick a fork in the crinkles that
form when he grins. Wonder at the
enormity of his shiny white teeth.
Grant is Charles, a perpetual bach-
elor with friends who wear wacky
vests and have orange hair. They go
to weddings together practically ev-
ery day and are quite fed up withthe
procedure. "Bollocks," they say while
describing the bride as a "big me-
ringue." The pressure of finding a
mate weighs heavily, especially on
Charles who arrives late at every cer-
emony after a litany of cursing and
demonic driving.
It is atone such fiasco that Charles,
who woos women with quotes from
David Cassidy, meets Carrie, an
American with a hat straight out of
"The Flying Nun." Boy, is he ever
bowled over.

Carrie, played by Andie
MacDowell, is a glam dame who has
slept with 33 different men. She and
Charles get along very well, espe-
cially considering that she is engaged
to a pudgy old English lord or prince
who wears a skirt and leers lecher-
ously. Charles and Carrie run into
each other at each wedding they go to
and get more and more attached. The
matrimonious meetings not only cul-
minateinavery engrossinglovestory
but offer endless possibilities for
Charles and his friends to get into all
kinds of bloody humorous situations.
For example, Charles gets stuck
at a table during a reception that is
full of his ex-girlfriends and a guy
describing the 400 different kinds of
teathatexistin theworld. Two greasy
See WEDDINGS, Page 14