[6]

In this period piece set in 1950s New England, Brendan Fraser stars as a high school quarterback who gets recruited to a prestigious preparatory school where he must hide the fact that he’s Jewish. School Ties feels desperate to cash in on the unexpected success of Dead Poets Society (they even hired the same composer), but it’s earnest enough to stand on its own, even if everything plays out exactly as you might expect after seeing just the first ten minutes of the movie. The best thing about the movie is that it affords you the chance to watch very early performances from a bunch of actors who went on to have notable careers. Matt Damon has the juiciest supporting role, playing Fraser’s main adversary. Chris O’Donnell plays the somewhat sympathetic roommate (a role that should have been beefed up). And you’ll also find Ben Affleck in a small role.