School Ties (1992)
After you watch School Ties, you might feel invigorated or you might roll your eyes. It’s a hit-or-miss movie, with a remarkably personal yet broad message. Brendan Fraser stars as a Jewish student who has to hide his faith when his classmates show anti-Semitism. Everything you’re thinking will happen does happen, so while it might not surprise you with inventive cruelties or triumphs, at least you can take comfort in the lack of surprise you’ll feel while watching it. See what I mean?
Isn’t it amazing that no one in this particular 1950s prep school was unattractive? With Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Cole Hauser, Randall Batinkoff, and Ben Affleck, all Brendan’s fellow students were remarkably clean-cut and fit to form a boy band. Perhaps that was the point, though, to make Brendan feel that everyone around him was the same and he needed to try and fit in—even though he, too, was clean-cut and could have been accepted into a boy band. Of course, a girl, Amy Locane, is everyone’s downfall, bringing real conflict and crisis to the movie. It wouldn’t be an interesting enough story, Hollywood must have thought, for Brendan to just struggle at school without falling in love.
If you like these types of movies, go ahead and rent it. It probably won’t hurt you. You’ll get to see Robert Donat as the headmaster, a throwback to his role as Mr. Chips, and a bunch of young actors who grew up to have larger careers later in the decade. And I guarantee you’ll like the ending.
More Chris O'Donnell movies here!
Isn’t it amazing that no one in this particular 1950s prep school was unattractive? With Matt Damon, Chris O’Donnell, Cole Hauser, Randall Batinkoff, and Ben Affleck, all Brendan’s fellow students were remarkably clean-cut and fit to form a boy band. Perhaps that was the point, though, to make Brendan feel that everyone around him was the same and he needed to try and fit in—even though he, too, was clean-cut and could have been accepted into a boy band. Of course, a girl, Amy Locane, is everyone’s downfall, bringing real conflict and crisis to the movie. It wouldn’t be an interesting enough story, Hollywood must have thought, for Brendan to just struggle at school without falling in love.
If you like these types of movies, go ahead and rent it. It probably won’t hurt you. You’ll get to see Robert Donat as the headmaster, a throwback to his role as Mr. Chips, and a bunch of young actors who grew up to have larger careers later in the decade. And I guarantee you’ll like the ending.
More Chris O'Donnell movies here!