Comparisons to Van Sant's Good Will Hunting are inevitable, but Finding Forrester is more honest and less prone to touchy-feely sentiment, as in the way Jamal and a private-school classmate Anna Paquin develop a mutual attraction that remains almost entirely unspoken. The film takes a conventional turn when Jamal must defend his integrity with Forrester's help in a writing contest judged by a skeptical teacher F. Murray Abraham, but this ethical subplot is a credible catalyst for Forrester's most dramatic display of friendship. It's one of many fine moments for Connery and Brown a screen natural, in a memorable film that transcends issues of race to embrace the joy of learning. --Jeff Shannon