Film Forum

U.S., 1990
Directed by Andrew Bergman
Starring Marlon Brando, Matthew Broderick, Bruno Kirby
Approx. 102 minutes. 35mm.

“Film student Clark Kellogg (Broderick) arrives in New York ready to start his first term, but within minutes smooth-talking hustler Victor Ray (Kirby) has relieved him of money and luggage. When Kellogg later chances across Ray, the latter makes amends by offering the distraught teen a part-time job with his uncle Carmine Sabatini (Brando) who, seen sprawled behind his desk at an Italian 'social club', looks every inch the Godfather. Kellogg's first assignment seems fraught with hazards... Writer/director Bergman's good-natured comedy makes light of gangster genre conventions, and humorously under-cuts some of the more portentous aspects of film academia: Kellogg's plight is rendered farcical when, at a seminar on Coppola's THE GODFATHER, he begins to find disturbing similarities between his life and the movie. The casting, needless to say, is perfect, and Bergman keeps the various escalating intrigues clipping along at a brisk pace.” – Time Out

Reviews

"There have been a lot of movies where stars have repeated the triumphs of their parts—but has any star ever done it more triumphantly than Marlon Brando does in THE FRESHMAN?"
– Roger Ebert

“A DELIGHTFUL, IMAGINATIVE SCREWBALL COMEDY written and directed by Andrew Bergman (BLAZING SADDLES, THE IN-LAWS). Brando's wonderful low-key performance—less a parody of his Don Corleone than a revised-and-corrected life-size version—never falters. Sweet and warm as well as manic, this is full of loopy surprises.”
– Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader

“A quirky sleeper with something truly unexpected around every corner. Its best surprises are the appearance of the long-absent Marlon Brando, in his first starring role in a decade, and his comic charisma and chemistry with co-star Matthew Broderick.”
– Joe Brown, The Washington Post