Spring Forward (2000)

Excellent adaptation.

Crappy film

It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

I love well-executed films of personal transformation and this is one of the best I have ever seen. The filmmaker did an incredible job of casting, dialog, site selection, physical transformation of the two characters, story development, cinematography... I discovered the movie on IFC while working out today and I ended up working out an extra two hours, just so I would not miss any of the film. I was intrigued by the young character, unable to place him, having recently seen him on stage in NYC and as the film unfolded, the character lost the facial hair, and I recognized Liev -- who I believe to be one of today's greatest contemporary actors. Having lived in Ridgefield, CT for ten years, the references were near to my heart, and a wonderful surprise. I absolutely loved this movie.

A rare delight for those of us who watch a movie more for the acting techniques than for the explosions and bikini babes. Beatty and Schrieber portray two city workers who muse about their lives during their day to day working relationship. Nothing really major happens. No plot twists abound. No great arc of transference happens in the plot, just a gentle "getting to know you" feeling develops as the viewer gets drawn into the story very gently. I've seen lots of movies and I must say this is one where I couldn't predict what would happen next because it defies Hollywood traditions by choosing the natural moments in life to focus on rather than the supernatural. It's a small gem for those that prefer their movies to be more introspective than most

This is one of those indie pics that were so popular in the late 90's,Which means, you either never heard of it or it was a smash. This one isthe former! But I found it and since I always liked Ned Beatty buthaven't seen him in much these days, I rented it. It was a somewhat slow but very interesting character study. I liked thecharacters right away especially the beginning scene when they werebeing asked to load up a pickup truck with fertilizer and the youngerman refused to do it because he felt they were being used andunappreciated, and even called the guy a faggot for it! But there were too many undeveloped possibilities like the one where hemeets the pretty lady who gives him one of her puppies. He was desperateto meet a woman and when he did we never see it develop!The marijuana smoking scene was the best and seeing the old coot Nedpull on a doobie was awesome! In scenes like that, we see how the olderman grew youthful! The movie was basically about how we can learn from each otherregardless of age. Getting old is only a bad thing if you stop learning

This movie I guess has its heart in the right place but it's not well written, and the actors enjoy acting in it too much. The performances are pretty self-conscious, but then the writing's so self-conscious. No scene is of any especial consequence, and some of them--the penultimate scene, for instance--are downright ridiculous, a frantic attempt at some last minute payoff. On the up side Ned Beatty has a lot of energy and seemed to do the role as best as it could be done. I guess it's my own fault for watching past the first scene, which loudly hints that the movie will be a road to nowhere. Even if it does have good intentions, it's pretty manipulative, and not even all that successfully.