Review of Half Nelson (2006) by Richard F — 21 Sep 2009

First of all, hats off to Gosling for a great performance. Secondly, the directing is pretty solid. However, I was left scratching my head at the end of this film. Maybe I'm just really big on themes, but I have to ask what the point of this film is.

Here we have a character (Gosling) who is really good with kids, cares about them, and masterful at what he does in his classroom. This is the kind of teacher that makes a difference, but in ways that are polar opposites.

As a role model, this guy is an embarrassment to the teaching profession, and as so, I had difficulty caring about him, especially in light of the fact that he undergoes little to no character growth by the end of the movie.

I'm going to give this a ever so slight recommendation, but just because the dynamics of the characters were interesting enough to hold my attention in the long run.