OC HIGH / STUDENT NEWS AND VIEWS : ‘With Honors’ Passes With Flying Colors / <i> Teen reviews of books, music, movies and other things of interest. : </i>

Tara: Have you noticed that the quality of films being produced lately is less than adequate to review? Movies such as “Bad Girls,” “Cops and Robbersons” and “Serial Mom” clutter the box office with mediocrity. Thank goodness “With Honors” has hit theaters, and it’s good!

Dana: Good? Food is good. People look good. Little children are good. But “With Honors” is fantastic! Boasting the talented cast of Brendan Fraser, Moira Kelly, Patrick Dempsey and Josh Hamilton, this film develops the story of four Harvard roommates who learn about life, love, parents, stress and reality from a self-proclaimed bum portrayed by Joe Pesci.

Tara: Gee, how realistic. How many students would actually take a homeless man in just for a thesis paper? Although the premise of the movie might be a little far-fetched, the meaning touched close to my heart. Fraser plays Monty, a scholastic steam engine of a student in pursuit of academic success. His plans are curtailed when a power outage leaves him with only a printout of his senior thesis, the mainstay of his life. His desperate pursuit to photocopy the remaining pages leads him eventually to lose the paper in the boiler room of Harvard’s library. However, he really “loses it” when he meets Pesci’s character, Simon Wilder, who extorts him.

Dana: Oooh, extortion. Have we been reading the dictionary again, Tara?

Tara: Yes, some of us have matriculated beyond “Cat in the Hat,” Dana. That’s right, matriculated. Look it up.

Dana: Speaking of looking up, I’d like to look up on the handsome face of Dempsey, who plays the womanizing, wine connoisseur, philosophizing deejay. For the men, Moira Kelly’s character is also worth looking up at. Her new page-boy haircut accentuates her soft facial features and is a fresh change from her preppy look in “The Cutting Edge.”

Tara: Thank you, Vidal Sassoon. Now I’d like to delve into something more interesting than looks: music. “With Honors” jumps on the musical bandwagon of using an enticing soundtrack to enhance the mood of the film. Heavy-metal songs such as the Cult’s “She Sells Sanctuary” and Candlebox’s “Cover Me” sharply contrast Madonna’s romantic ballad “I’ll Remember” and create an eclectic myriad of songs that any music fan can enjoy.

Dana: I think the whole movie is something everyone can enjoy. It has heart-felt impact and may make some viewers want to go out and give money to every homeless person they see.

We recommend “With Honors” for anyone who wants a “Harvard education” for only $6.50.