Mrs. Robinson can seduce Benjamin Braddock but the film can seduce audiences.

Rating: 9/10 (14 April 2006)

The Graduate is a charming, lovable, feel-good movie that gives you a hint in the first scene that you are going to like this movie. The film opens with a Simon & Garfunkel song in the credits as young Benjamin Braddock (or should I say young Dustin Hoffman) finally arrives home after receiving a bachelor's degree from college. He is obviously the family's golden boy and as his family throws him a party but Benjamin is not interested in any of it. He wants to be alone, think about his future a bit  well, maybe for months probably. But the main thing is that he has no interest in his own college experiences and he just wants to be alone for a while.
Mrs. Robinson (Ann Bancroft), a middle-age wife of Benjamin's business partner seems quite interested in Benjamin. Benjamin is then seduced by Mrs. Robinson but complications arise when Benjamin's parents and Mrs. Robinson's husband wants Benjamin and the Robinson's daughter, Elaine (Katharine Ross) to go on a date together after she comes home from Berkeley. The two go out to a date together after Benjamin promises Mrs. Robinson that he would not do such a thing, but the sad thing is that Benjamin falls in love with Elaine.
You know what? I love this movie. I really, really do. I love the music from Simon & Garfunkel (who can hate the song, "Mrs. Robinson?") and I love the weird satirical comedy that is inserted into The Graduate. Mike Nichols (who is probably better-known for his more recent film, Closer) does a great job in directing this film and little did he know that this film would still be "hip" to the average teenager 33 years later. I think one of my favorite scenes is Benjamin's birthday where he dives underwater (with his scuba diving costume that his father bought him) in his family pool just to sense the quietness of life just for a moment.
Even though The Graduate may be a flawed masterpiece (Elaine's sudden approval of Benjamin, the ending, etc.) I don't think I would really want to pick out the "flaws" because I feel that I am in no right to do so. The Graduate is so entertaining and likable that the flaws just slowly fade into a distance. I have never read the novel, but there is absolutely no doubt that Calder Willingham is an excellent screenwriter, mixing both comedy and wit together perfectly (same goes to Woody Allen, but well, Allen isn't even associated with this movie).
The acting is brilliant here. There is not one second that I didn't believe that Ann Bancroft wasn't Mrs. Robinson and Dustin Hoffman wasn't Benjamin Braddock. The beauty of the acting is that we like the characters even though they are not even that likable. The great thing about Hoffman's performance is that it was the start of an excellent career, and him putting that nervousness into Benjamin is what the film needed. Even though Katharine Ross had little worthy dialogue, she was good here as well as Elaine, who is maybe more confused than Benjamin.
This is what I would like to call a true classic  great acting, great music, and a great story. After seeing The Graduate, I felt glad that I saw the movie because this is not the typical "affair" movie that you see popping up from every corner.