Review by Steve Rhodes
1½ stars out of 4
Well, I now have a better appreciation for what the Supreme Court
Justices must feel when they have to write a dissenting opinion in a
8-1 case. Everyone I know from my friends to Siskel and Ebert have
gone bananas over FORREST GUMP. I saw it, and I was extremely
disappointed. From BIG to PHILADELPHIA, I have seen and loved almost
all of Tom Hanks's movies. In a nutshell, I found this one to be a
long bore. I checked my watch frequently and got sleepy by the end of
the movie although we went to the 5:30 showing.
FORREST GUMP is about a boy with a marginal IQ. He discovers that
he is very athletic however, and he finds to his amazement that this is
important in life. Forrest lives his life not for this, but for his
friends and for the central character in his life, Jenny, his childhood
sweetheart (Robin Wright). Sally Field plays an almost minor role as
his mother. Gary Sinise plays a Vietnam vet.
The good parts of the movie are all technical. Gump manages
personally to see numerous presidents and other historical figures.
You will be amazed at how well the special effects work.
The best, and only good performance in the movie, is Hanks. His
performance was amazing, but at times it was too mechanical - almost an
automaton.
Sinise, who was brilliant in OF MICE AND MEN, overacts as a cliche
of a burned out Vietnam vet. Field is okay. Wright was miscast as the
girlfriend. This was the second central figure in the movie, and
Wright was a weak actress who gave no life to the part.
My main fault was with the director (Robert Zemeckis) and the
screen writers (Winston Groom and Eric Roth). Why did they have to
make it so long (2:22)? Why did they feel they had to have Forrest
switch to a totally different amazing feat every 10 minutes? Why not
develop some aspects more? It was almost like it was written by a
committee and everybody got to write 10 minutes of the story.
Most of all, why didn't the director have people that were real
and that you cared about more? All were way too mechanical for my
taste. I should point out that almost everyone disagrees with me
although Janet Maslin of the N. Y. Times was not impress by the show
so at least I am not totally alone. There was lots of crying in the
theater hence one of the reasons it is making zillions at the box
office.
FORREST GUMP is rated PG-13 for violence, a little nudity,
discussions of sexual incest, battle carnage, etc. I saw many many
grade school kids in the audience. Frankly, I think that was a
mistake. Teenagers, fine, but this not a kids (preteen) stuff movie no
matter how cute the previews may look. I give the film * 1/2 for
technical merit and do not recommend it.
Copyright © 1994 Steve Rhodes
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out of 4
