Ah, the things we learn from movies. For example, when you're young and foolish, you may think going to college or reading books can provide you with important information about living life. But in reality, you can learn more from a homeless person, whose street wisdom can always provide invaluable life lessons. In the movies, anyway.

It's a hackneyed formula, and in its latest retread, "With Honors," there is nothing particularly distinguishing, save an appealing cast. And that's almost enough to keep it afloat . . . most of the way.

Joe Pesci toplines, though he is actually part of an ensemble here, with second-billed Brendan Fraser in the lead. Fraser is a senior at Harvard who is obsessive about his nearly complete 98-page thesis. Unfortunately, he's not so obsessive that he has made more than one hard copy. So, when a power bump causes his computer to blitz all his hard work into the ozone, Fraser decides he must make a Xerox copy of the thesis now, though it is quite late in the evening.

Running across campus, he slips on a patch of ice and drops the envelope containing those all-important papers down a grate near the library. With help from one of his roommates (Moira Kelly), Fraser sneaks past the guard, goes into the library basement and finds a homeless man burning the thesis, page by page in the furnace.

Naturally, Fraser goes nuts. So, bearded and bedraggled Pesci makes a deal — for every favor Fraser performs to make Pesci's life a little easier, he will return one page. Fraser agrees, but instead goes to the campus security office. Pesci is arrested . . . but he was smart enough to hide away Fraser's thesis. So, Fraser goes downtown, gets Pesci out of jail and they start all over again.

As you might expect, what follows is an unlikely bonding, as they gradually develop mutual respect for each other during a series of alternately comic and sentimental sequences, with arrogant, smug Fraser learning about truth and self-respect from scruffy but streetwise Pesci, who has willfully turned his back on life.

As Fraser becomes more self-aware, so do his roommates: Kelly, whose relationship with the men in the apartment is platonic, though she is secretly in love with Fraser; anarchic Patrick Dempsey, the token pseudo-'60s radical; and rich Josh Hamilton, a prissy whiner.

Fraser, Kelly, Dempsy and Hamilton are all quite good, lending some dimension to the proceedings, and Pesci gives the movie a particular boost when he's on the screen, though his character is a bit inconsistent in places.

Screenwriter William Mastrosimone ("Extremeties," the TV-movie "Sinatra") and director Alek Keshishian (Madonna's "Truth or Dare" — a Harvard alumnus) build the characters fairly well, especially in the humorous first half. But when the film begins to bog down in sentimental, soap opera machinations, especially the cloying scene near the end where Pesci is briefly reunited with his estranged son, both author and director seem to let the material get away from them.

And that's too bad, as there are some very nice touches along the way — such as Pesci's bag of stones, which symbolize momentous occasions in his life; Fraser's tentative relationship with Kelly; and some funny stuff with Dempsy as a goofy disc jockey for the campus radio station.

"With Honors" is rated PG-13 for profanity, vulgarity and nudity.