I think this film, in regards to antisemitism, is second only to Gregory Peck's "Gentleman's Agreement". The setting is very different here -- a prep school, but the message is similar.

Aside from the topic itself, the cast is interesting to watch -- Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck -- all very, very early in their film careers.

The story is rather simple -- a very WASPish prep school with a losing football team, but a demanding alumni group with deep pockets, recruits a gifted high school quarterback (Fraser). There's just one problem -- he's Jewish, but that can be kept a secret. After he steals the spotlight and the girl from the former primary quarterback (Damon),the secret does what most secrets do -- it slips out. And suddenly the star quarterback who was just one of the guys now isn't one of the guys at all. Then there's a cheating scandal, and it's all dumped on the Jewish guy...after all, cheating is the kind of things that "dirty Jews" do. Right? But, as you might expect, it's Damon who maneuvers the situation. And how will it all end? The (then) young actors do amazing jobs here, although Affleck has one of the smaller roles. Fraser and Damon are terrific, as is the girl friend -- Amy Locane.

The one criticism I have is of the scene where in about 30 minutes they dismantle are car and reassemble it in an "evil" house father's room. No, just not possible...at least in that amount of time.

But aside from that frivolity, if you like serious movies, this is a very good one!

David Green (Brendan Fraser) is a star quarterback from working class Scranton, Pennsylvania in the 50's. He's Jewish and gets into fights for that. He gets a scholarship to an exclusive prep school for the senior year aiming to get into Harvard. His coach suggests keeping his Jewish heritage a secret. He is befriended by nice roommate Chris Reece (Chris O'Donnell),Charlie Dillon (Matt Damon) who wants to be the quarterback, Jack Connors (Cole Hauser) and others. After winning a big game, he falls for Sally Wheeler (Amy Locane) whom Dillon also likes. Dillon is embarrassed on the field. He discovers Green's Jewish heritage and unleashes anti-semantic feelings among the students.

Something bugged me throughout this movie. They're supposed to be high school seniors but everybody looks like they're twentysomethings. It's standard Hollywood operating procedure and I won't nick it too much. It's very earnest in its portrayal of racism. O'Donnell is the one who has to play the middle. It's all very standard but then there is a great "Twelve Angry Men" section. I really like that scene. It allows the characters to have deep interactions. It's a great scene and makes this standard movie something better.

Brendan Fraser, Matt Damon, and Ben Affleck were all relatively unknown when they starred in this story of anti-Semitism on a 1950s Ivy League campus. Fraser plays David Greene, a Jewish student who gets into the school only to find out that almost everyone there hates Jews, so he hides his ethnicity. Of course, someone eventually finds out (in this case, it's Matt Damon's character).

It's interesting when you think about how far the cast members have come. Just last year, Brendan Fraser starred in "Crash" and Matt Damon starred in "Syriana", both of which are now nominated for Best Picture. Ben Affleck, on the other hand, seems to have degenerated into stuff like "Pearl Harbor" and "Gigli".