Not A Classic.

Rating: 5/10 (31 August 2013)

Mike Nichols directed this film about Ben Braddock, a confused young man trying to decide on his future in a society he can't understand, but instead becomes involved with the married mother of his reluctant girlfriend, and the various complications that ensue as a result.
Dustin Hoffman leads a good cast, it has haunting songs by Simon & Garfunkel, is beloved by many of that generation, and even won Nichols an Academy Award for best director. So what's not to like? For a film that reacts negatively to the word "plastic", that's just how I feel about the characters and setting. Nothing about this film feels particularly real, certainly not the affair of Ben and Mrs. Robinson(Anne Bancroft) which not only isn't believable, it doesn't make sense, feels utterly manufactured and wrong. Katharine Ross as his girlfriend reacts to the news believably, but the ending will leave the viewer up in the air, since it, while dramatically staged, feels forced and unsatisfying. It just doesn't work for me.