I was surprised to find so many others who held the same opinion as I about the movie "Forrest Gump". The nation laughed and cried along with Forrest throughout the course of the movie and through pure visceral emotion, resulted in Academy Awards out the wazoo. If this movie evoked any kind of response out of me, I might say it made me cry... out of pure boredom. I was disappointed in the ridiculousness of "Forrest Gump", a lot of the reason being because I hold Tom Hanks in such high regard and never once thought that he would be one to promote the patronizing American Dream theory. It completely blows my mind that this movie received so many awards and so much hype when it is utterly unbelievable and absolutely unrealistic. The braces bursting from Forrest's legs, his unintentional football scholarship to college, his meeting the president (and might I add his only words to Mr. Kennedy were "I have to go pee"), his millions earned through ping-pong, his (how pathetic) running across America four times for "no reason at all", his "inventing" the happy face symbol by wiping his face on a towel... all this is just incredibly... stupid, if I may be so blunt. The movie attempts to show that to succeed in life, one does not need to be overly intelligent, all one needs is a lot of heart. Very touching, but dense all the same and the movie is so far out that viewers only see it as entertainment and will not derive motivation to make something of themselves. Tom Hanks does a wonderful job and is convincing as a mentally-challenged man, but the movie as a whole, the supposed "story-line" and non-existent plot are pathetic and hold no ground. "Forrest Gump" deserved no awards in my opinion.
Reviews
3 Reviews
Philadelphia
(1993)
Gay Men Are Macho Too
13 December 1998
Philadelphia is a truly amazing movie and a touching story. Tom Hanks plays a lawyer who has been stricken with a horrible disease. He plays a convincing role as Andrew Beckett, a man who knows the meaning of justice and knows what exactly his rights are. What Mr. Hanks also accomplishes with this role is he breaks free from the stereotypes society has dictated on the average gay man. Andrew Beckett is not feminine in any way, he does not have a flair for shoe shopping or hold his arms limp-wristed or talk with a lisp. For these reasons, it has been said that Tom Hanks was not believable as a gay man. I strongly disagree. Andrew Beckett is a normal man who enjoys smoking cigars and takes joy in the law. Who would think he was gay? This is precisely the point the movie is trying to make. A gay man may be walking among you, every day you may see him at school, may play raquetball with him at the gym, may work late hours with him at the office... but yet you'd never suspect he is gay because he does not wear loafers decorated with tassels and he has a low-pitched voice. Men are men, whether gay or not, and should be treated as such -- gays do not deserve special treatment but they deserve equal treatment. Because in most areas, gay men are just like straight men. I commend Tom Hanks for showing the world that gay men can be just as manly as any other. His Oscar was well-deserved and the movie was amazingly ground-breaking.
Big
(1988)
In "Big", it's the little things that count
13 December 1998
"Big" is a magnificent movie. Tom Hanks portrays a young boy trapped in the body of a grown man. Imagine one morning, to find yourself trapped in an unfamiliar body. Mr. Hanks creates a vivid character and plays a convincing role as a 13 year old boy who has to deal with the confusion of this sudden change. The child shines through the grown man throughout the movie, in classic scenes such as his first day on the job at the MacMillan Toy Company when he curls his legs underneath him to sit at his desk, and at the company cocktail party when the entire staff chuckles at his choice in tuxedo and his first reaction is to check the fly on his white-sequined pants. Also his nervousness and restlessness during a marketing meeting, and the way he holds up his hand and waits to be called on before making a comment, are all childlike actions. Such small details are what make the character so convincing and Tom Hanks pulls it off brilliantly.
Tell Your Friends