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Mr. Holland's Opus
Academy Award® Nominee
Glenn Holland has dreams of a music career, but life gets in the way as he takes a teaching job to make ends meet. As he struggles to balance his passion with his work and family, he finds that...  View more >

Starring Richard Dreyfuss, Glenne Headly, Olympia Dukakis...  View more >

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Reviews Summary


Please Note: Reader Reviews are submitted by the readers of The BigScreen Cinema Guide and represent their own personal opinions regarding this movie, and do not represent the views of The BigScreen Cinema Guide, or any of its associated entities.

Aug 14, 2003
Mr. Holland's Opus was one of those movies that I heard a lot about before seeing it. Most of comments were about how good the movie was. That can be both good and bad for a movie; either it lives up to your expectations and you thoroughly enjoy the movie, or you are completely disappointed and begin to question the mental stability of the people you heard the good comments from...

Fortunately, Mr. Holland's Opus turned out to be a case of the former. I thought that this movie was completely enjoyable, to the point of wanting to go back a week later and see it all over again.

The movie covers 30 years in the life of Mr. Glenn Holland, a man who desparately wants to fulfill his dream of composing his masterpiece, while accepting the fact that he needs to supply the basic needs of his family with a steady paycheck. Reluctantly, he takes a job on his "fall-back" career, teaching music at John F. Kennedy High School.

It is interesting to watch his progression from a man who just wants to do his job and get home to work on his composition, to a man who truly cares about his students. In this progression, he also begins to discover that a teacher's job is definitely not limited to the time spent teaching in class. A good quote from the movie that sums up the plot is "Life is what happens when you're making other plans."

An ironic twist in Mr. Holland's life occurs when his son is diagnosed as having a 90% hearing loss. For Holland, this causes a gap between him and his son that is almost impossible for him to overcome.

I was impressed by the acting done by Glenne Headly, who played his wife, Iris. She does a wonderful job of portraying the loving and supporting wife and mother, filling in the gap between her husband and her son. Another surprising performance is from Jean Louisa Kelly, who delivers a whopper of a singing performance as the female star of the Senior Musical, and a major challenge to Mr. Holland's dedication to the life that he has chosen.

I would definitely recommend this film to anyone looking to enjoy themselves for a night at the movies. You owe it to yourself to experience this movie first-hand!

On a technical note, the soundtrack for this movie was very well done. I'm considering picking up both the score and the soundtrack on CD. This excellent work was only slightly marred by a few sound dropouts that I have heard before during other Dolby Digital presentations. (Please note that these dropouts are no worse than what is heard during any non-digital sound presentation.) I would recommend seeing this film during a digital sound presentation if for no other reason than to fully experience the wonderful piano playing that is done throughout the movie.

Copyright 1996 - Scott V. Jentsch

Reviewed on February 17th, 1996 at South Shore in sound
Sep 14, 2005
\"Mr. Holland\'s Opus\" is a wonderful drama starring Richard Dreyfuss as a music teacher who taugh more than music to his fellow students. The film expands from the 1960\'s to today. Times do change, but his method of teaching doesn\'t. His relatioonship with his deaf son is memorable as well as his relatio9nship whith his students who were inspired by Holland.
Oct 13, 2012

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