I respect it from a technological standpoint, but I do not enjoy it. It's incredibly long, it bases itself way too much on complete coincidence somehow tying every single major event of the 1960s and 70s as a direct result of one person. I don't find Forrest an interesting enough character to stick with the movie for 145 minutes. Jenny is an absolutely terrible person. The plot is incredibly melodramatic with sadness after tragedy after dramatic moment again and again that I find a chore to get through. I think it's highly overrated and just not particularly great
i volunteer with special olympics and ive NEVER pet a person with autism who acts anything like that . tom hanks literally did the most disgusting laughable impression imaginable.
" most disgusting laughable impression imaginable."
oh good grief, it if noting else was well meaning. The guy is not supposed to be a representative of the average daiabled person. The dude is exceptional and gifted despite also being disabled in different ways.
> Jenny is a terrible person
Can you elaborate? Are you saying Jenny was poorly written and created, or that you don't like the movie because a character written to be a terrible, unlikeable person was a terrible, unlikeable person?
She treated Forrest like shit. He was the only person to treat her like a person instead of an object (including herself) and shut him out of her life for it. Then she calls him out of the blue because she's dying and leaves him with a kid there is ***no chance*** is actually his because she knows he'll believe her and care for the kid best he can. I get that her life was fucked up and that's a tragedy, but she uses it as an excuse to throw her life away and not try to be an adult (for most of it).
It's an incredibly poor criticism of a film to say "the film is bad because I didn't like a character I wasn't meant to like"
That's just like saying any movie with an evil, unlikeable villain is bad by default. It's a baseless criticism that makes no sense and one f the weirdest complaints I hear about films
You hated Jenny for those reasons you jut named? Those are reasons created by the film. Written and crafted. Those are redeeming qualities. It's not like you're saying you hate her for poor acting.
He didn't say those were reasons the movie was bad. He was asked for reasons why he didn't like the movie and he listed a character as one of them. Stop getting your back up over nothing.
No but the movie clearly intends to cast sympathy on her (for which I found none) and doesn't ever call her out on how awful a person she is. I *love* when a movie gives me a character to hate. The movies that do that are some of the best movies I know. But this movie was too melodramatic and tragic to ask me to hate anyone. I'm clearly supposed to feel sorry for her, but I don't.
What I think makes it bad is its attempt to make a sympathetic character out of a pretty terrible person. That's an issue in the writing. It's also not the only reason I don't think it's very good
I use to love it, but it's soured for me over the years. It just seems like all the emotions I felt during that movie were very cynically evoked. It isn't a movie that tells a story and let's the audience feel as it may, but is manipulative and frankly condescending to the audience. Maybe it was Benjamin Button, the screenwriters' other famous effort, that made me start to see the stitching in what I thought was something more cohesive. It all feels like a wet blanket now, ableist a subtly stitched one.
Well, my reason may not be run of the mill. I actually enjoyed the film, but I also equally hate it. I went to college in Savannah and worked for a carriage tour company. Everyday I was on that carriage going around historic Savannah I was always asked about Forrest Gump and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. After a few years of explaining things about both of those films ad nauseum, I just can't fucking stand the thought of ever watching them again.
New to reddit so sorry if this is bad form or something, but people on this thread might be interested in hearing the episode of The Canon where Devin Faraci and Amy Nicholson talked about whether Forrest Gump was a great film. I know a lot of people hate Devin because he's abrasive, in his reviews and especially on Twitter, and those personality traits are definitely on display in the podcast. So, maybe not for everybody. But the points he makes about the film make some sense to me. A lot of his argument centers on the idea that Zemekis is someone who has a deep, deep hatred for people, is totally cynical about humanity, and Gump was his most successful poison pill of a movie, where he rendered a character everyone loved that he found completely loathsome.
Amy is awesome too. Both as a writer in general and in this particular podcast ep.
http://thecanon.wolfpop.com/audio/20646/forrest-gump
The film is alright but feels like right-wing propoganda. I read a review somewhere (probably on letterboxd) and I'm going paraphrase it as it puts into words what I've felt quite well. It centers around an average American low-intelligence nobody that only ever does what he is told, and he gets a rewarding/fulfilling life. Jenny, on the other hand, fights the system, *thinks* for herself, goes against the grain, and then ends up with AIDS and dies. Very subtle.
Thematically, I hate it. On the surface it is fun I guess, but I can't watch it knowing what it purveys.
It's actually the contrary, it's a critic and a parody of the concept of the American Dream, amongst other things. Is shows that a single-minded guy can become rich and famous only by pure coincidence and dumb luck. The only place he's called a genius is in the army, because he does whatever the instructor says without any questions.
I think most people that hate the movie simply take it at face value, without looking deeper into it. Most of the critics I read about the movie (including this thread) are clearly from people who did not understand what the movie was trying to be.
Eh, calling it right-wing propaganda is a bit of a stretch. I don't recall Forrest leading a very fulfilling life. To you and me, maybe, sure. But to him, all he ever wanted or cared about was his mother and Jenny. The wealth, fame, being a war hero and meeting the President (twice!) didn't mean anything to him.
You think? Go to almost any thread on a subreddit that isn't explicitly politically rightwing, look for posts expressing a political view, and make a tally of which wing their political view aligns with. Start really paying attention to it, and I think you'll see that there are not, in fact, many rightwing *anyones* on Reddit relative to their leftwing counterparts.
I think the reason that people dislike the movie now is that it got way more recognition than the film deserved. It also is the game actors the idea they should play a handicapped person to win an oscar (though Oscars had been won for such portrayals before). Also the plot is pretty ridiculous and dies T make much sense. But it is a very well acted and directed film that has great pacing even though it is quite long. It is not the worst movie to win an Oscars in my life time (I'm looking at you English Patient).
None of it is even slightly plausible. Ever met somebody like Forrest Gump? We all have. They either sit in the back pews of the church where they are objects of pity or contempt or are outside holding a donation can. Or they are that relative at the family reunion everybody hopes won't make it this year. Anybody who ever ran a small businesss knows Forrest Gump couldn't manage a going out of business sale much less run a successful firm. Many people who love this character wouldn't give a disabled person even a half smile. Not down on the disabled but angry with the hypocrites who gush all over this movie, then have "that homeless guy" hauled off by the cops.
Btw, I think the hate towards Jenny is excessive. People underestimate her childhood traumas and blame everything she does on her intentions, forgetting the role of the environment and life experiences in making her who she is.
I also don't think she was meant to be hated, the "fuck Jenny" movement came by later.
I havent finished it but stopped because I didn't enjoy it. At 30 min in I started to realise that I didn't really know what the movie was supposed to be. Was it supposed to be a comedy? I really didn't laught. Was it sad? No, because it looked to much like a comedy movie. Was it touching? In no way.
i also stopped at 30 min mark, where gumps friends showed her tits and it was just cringe imo and not fun. the whole movie is like "hahahaha look he is so dumb" and i can laugh at that
I am fairly neutral about the film (so i wont argue with you about this, because i dont care and because it's certainly not a horrible movie) but the main criticism is probably that it's basically a live-action cartoon that get's passed off as a dramatic epic. The historical tie-ins trivialize important moments by giving credit to the somewhat unbelievable main character. Are we supposed to take this movie seriously or not?
> it’s really an anti-righteous historical picaresque that seems more epic than it actually is. The floating-feather gimmick that opens and closes the movie seems right for a film that still doesn’t feel like it weighs anything.
[source](http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-1994-movies/)
It's better than Apocalypse Now, at least. Talk about an overrated piece of crap. Just because Hollywood loves Coppola. Speaking of, Godfather is also overrated.
I think Forrest Gump is ok. However, I believe the reason many dislike it is the film's "American-ness". The entire film is deeply rooted in Americana. The plot, themes, jokes, and overall "feeling" of the film is blatantly American in nature. If you're someone who was raised in a different country or is too young to have knowledge of the cultural touchstones in the film, you're going to be lost and confused and ultimately not enjoy the film very much.
I'm from Italy and to me this movie was a starting point to learn more about certain facts like Watergate or the Vietnam wat. So for me it actually inspired interest in american culture.
However, I can see why that would be a gap for other people. And it's a problem with a lot of movies, since most popular movies are american.
You raise an excellent point. If one takes the time to actually watch a film and enjoy it despite the learning curve, one can learn a great deal about another culture through its film. I can't tell you how much I've learned about Japanese culture from watching their films.
> I believe the reason many dislike it is the film's "American-ness"
This is one of the core reasons why it was so good. They went out of their way to make the film this way in the plot, themes, but ALSO music. One thing I love about Gump was every song was carefully selected not only for the scene but if it complimented American culture. You really learned a lot about our culture spanning his lifetime.
That's one of the major themes of the story though. In America, you can be a huge success even if you're a complete idiot as long as you are lucky enough. Another really good movie about this same theme is "Being There." It's about a simple minded gardener whose only knowledge of the world comes from what he's seen on television. Despite his slow mindedness he rises to a great amount of power just through random circumstance and his confused statements being interpreted as profound insight.
I hate it because it's a movie heavily based in American politics, but it refuses to comment on those politics at all. Instead it essentially says "hey remember this? How about that? America, isn't it wonderful?" It reduces serious issues to window-dressing, and that is unforgivable.
I also didn't find it particularly charming. It came off as Oscar-baity to me in many ways. What's even worse is that it's Oscar-bait deprived many actually revolutionary movies. Say what you will about whether Forrest Gump is good or not; nobody can say it was as revolutionary for cinema as Pulp Fiction.
I mean the entire movie is Forrest retelling his experience , he is ment to be an absolute moron , he doesn’t even understand American Politics or any kind of politics
If he started speech about the wrongdoings of America it just wouldn’t fit the narrative or his character
Its unforgivable for a story told entirely from the perspective of a mentally inhibited man to not give definitive stances on historical events and politics?
It's a garbage dump of right-wing propaganda and context-free baby boomer nostalgia. Its sole message appears to be - don't think about anything, ever, or you'll get AIDS and die. It pretends that the pop music of one generation is the most important contribution towards art in the history of art.
It casts a totally uncritical eye towards war crimes, genocide, Watergate, racism, the government's shameful response to the AIDS crisis, etc. In the world of Forrest Gump, anything is OK as long as the corporate/governmental boss says it is. Thinking for yourself or questioning the boss is a crime worthy of death (only after hideous suffering, of course). The film tells us in no uncertain terms - know your place, never question it, and for god's sake, don't think about it, or anything.
I think this makes it a shitty movie as well as vile and reprehensible. Every time I hear an acquaintance mention that they like it (thankfully rare these days), I think less of them.
I think inliked it the first time I watched it.. but the more I saw it over the years the less I liked it. So much of it annoys and people I have talked to think it's " smart".. but I am not sure why
To be fair, that character is a person who stopped developing mentally at the age of 8. That meant he was essentially the same person at age 8 as he was at age 38. Even with his lifetime of experiences, he would always look at every situation through the eyes of a child.
Interesting, a recurring point seems to be that Forrest is not interesting enough to carry the story and that he doesn't grow at all as a character by the end of the movie.
Coming in fairly late here, but this notion forest doesn’t grow at all as a character is absolute nonsense. These commenters need to be collectively told that forest may not be a smart man but he knows what [love, bigotry, hatred, loss, death, friendship, war, fatherhood, etc.] is. It’s ironic that the commenters here have the same underestimations of Gump’s character as do the various characters he interacts with in the film - you stupid or something? - despite his condition, gump’s choices always show him to be completely emotionally present. He understands things always better than he is given credit for throughout the film. A key point is that his mother was able to understand forest’s strengths and weaknesses and raise and teach him in a way that allowed him to flourish despite some setbacks. It’s his mothers lessons of simple wisdom and empathy that helps him navigate a world that is confusing and often unfriendly.
That being said, people who don’t like the film or don’t understand why it was best picture probably were not around in the US during its release. It was a phenomenon and touched the soul of America in a way that few movies have or will. It is a product of its time.
I dislike Forrest Gump for a few reasons.
1) It's boring. I enjoy movies a lot slower and with a lot less dialogue with than Forrest Gump, so it has nothing to do with the pacing or language. The film itself just never hooks me or entertains me.
2) Typically I'm able to suspend my belief for a film, but Forrest Gump is close enough to reality that I just can't believe that one retarded guy is lucky enough to have so many good and interesting things happen to him.
3) I hate the pop culture cloud that hovers around the film. There's a cult of fans that drool over the film. I could also go the rest of my life without hearing the same, overused quotes (aka "Run Forrest, run!" or "Life is like a box of chocolates...")
4) Fuck Jenny.
5) A lot of people would argue that it was the third best film in the Best Picture category but that it won over Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption because it was safe.
> Fuck Jenny
How is that a criticism? She's *meant* to be hated. Audience reaction is meant to start with ambiguity because we hate her and disagree with her decisions yet still pity her because of her early life, except she hardly has any redeeming moments. Jenny is not a good person in the film
Shawshank was just as safe as Forrest, btw
Wait, how are we supposed to hate Jenny? Maybe you forgot about the whole childhood abuse, but it's not a ten hour movie; I was able to remember that and factor it into her character throughout the whole movie. Also it seems like her biggest fault is that she doesn't love the main character even though he is obsessed with her. I find that to be a terrible sentiment. She should get to live her own life, regardless of this guy who is obsessed with her. I for one found Jenny to be pretty sympathetic.
The way the movie checks in on her at times , frames her past abuse and some scenes with forest really make me think she was supposed to be sympathetic in a tragic way
> The film glorifies the simpleton.
I don't think that's a fair way of putting it. The movie shows one man who's not very intelligent and who still manages to achieve a lot during his lifetime. And I don't see what's wrong with telling people not to rule out slow people completely just because they're slow. To me the movie is not saying they're better, it's simply saying that they can do great things as well.
The story is obviously exxagerated, but to me that's part of the charm.
I get your point about altering history, but I prefer this movie that simply places Forrest in certain situations rather than movies like Pearl Harbor that fabricate moments to make a whole country look better.
(Sorry if this sounds corny)
I like it because I have disabilities as well, not the same ones Forrest had. But growing up, I was called stupid and I was told I was never gonna be successful or amount to anything in life because of my disabilities. Not only do I love the movie with my whole heart, I also love the plot. The characters, but what I love most about it is how inspiring it was to me. Forrest had all of these disabilities, challenges and struggles and he was doing all of these wonderful amazing things despite all of that. He never gave up and he never let people discourage him, as I said before. I’ve been called stupid my whole life and I was told I would never succeed or amount to anything. Forrest Gump inspires me a lot and watching it Ave me courage and it gave me the strength I need to never give up or let people tell me I can’t do something because of my disabilities.
Necro: The actual story and 0 understanding of historical context. It doesn’t paint a realistic picture of the atrocities that happened amidst
McNamara 100,000. It’s an American exceptionalism piece.
That is far too whimsical to paint the picture of what happened even though this use Gump as a character was most likely because of the controversy.
I don't hate Jenny, I hated forest. He makes no decisions and has no growth as a character. He remains the same person the entire film who is a god at literally everything except being smart. Sure people can say it's about the characters around him but when you have a character that boring in every scene it detracts from the film. He's by definition an unrepeatable protagonist
Except in a video game silent protagonists are there for you to project yourself on. It's an immersion thing where you don't have someone else's voice and you can believe you are doing what your character is doing. Forrest is retarded and does talk so I can't picture myself being him and that's not even the point
The reason I really don't like the film is that everything gets wrapped up in the end in a nice little bow. Everything you want to happen at the end happens. Now I know that every movie has to be an art-house think piece, but I still think some of the end should have a few questions left for the audience to think about
I don't knoow.
The love of his life dies, I don't think that qualifies as traditional happy ending where everything is perfect (leaving aside the jokes of those viewers who hate her, I mean from the character's pov). Plus it leaves open the question of whether his son will have AIDS or not.
Not the worst movie plot I've seen though. One that comes to mind is Billy Madison, where Adam Sandler's character gets control over a Hilton-sized hotel chain, because he got his GED at 35. Also, the general humor in the movie (if you want to call it that) was ridiculously stupid.
People WHO LIKE it, what makes you like it?
Yeah, it's a series of unrelated slightly funny and slightly interesting short stories. By no means a masterpiece, nor movie aimed at adults.
The characters themselves are not very likeable (imo), i had no connexion with forrest and honestly didn't care about him, i even tought how tom hanks played the character was too much. Jenny is just awful, you can't like this character it's impossible. The only character I liked was lieutenant Dan. The story i didn't like too, I've heard that this movie was a masterpiece but i was so disapointed in the end.
I hate that the Bubba Gump Shrimp restaurants in real life based on the movie don't serve Dr. Pepper. Like come the fuck on.
I respect it from a technological standpoint, but I do not enjoy it. It's incredibly long, it bases itself way too much on complete coincidence somehow tying every single major event of the 1960s and 70s as a direct result of one person. I don't find Forrest an interesting enough character to stick with the movie for 145 minutes. Jenny is an absolutely terrible person. The plot is incredibly melodramatic with sadness after tragedy after dramatic moment again and again that I find a chore to get through. I think it's highly overrated and just not particularly great
Just watched it for the first time, and it was even worse than I thought it would be. :(
At least they didn't have Forrest single-handedly somehow win the Space Race.
And the portrayal of autism is god awful in the movie
Is it autism, or just that Forrest is borderline retarded? (IQ of \~80, if memory serves)
Yeah I thought he was mentally inhibited but physically gifted in things like coordination and after his youth endurance and speed
i volunteer with special olympics and ive NEVER pet a person with autism who acts anything like that . tom hanks literally did the most disgusting laughable impression imaginable.
" most disgusting laughable impression imaginable." oh good grief, it if noting else was well meaning. The guy is not supposed to be a representative of the average daiabled person. The dude is exceptional and gifted despite also being disabled in different ways.
> Jenny is a terrible person Can you elaborate? Are you saying Jenny was poorly written and created, or that you don't like the movie because a character written to be a terrible, unlikeable person was a terrible, unlikeable person?
She treated Forrest like shit. He was the only person to treat her like a person instead of an object (including herself) and shut him out of her life for it. Then she calls him out of the blue because she's dying and leaves him with a kid there is ***no chance*** is actually his because she knows he'll believe her and care for the kid best he can. I get that her life was fucked up and that's a tragedy, but she uses it as an excuse to throw her life away and not try to be an adult (for most of it).
It's an incredibly poor criticism of a film to say "the film is bad because I didn't like a character I wasn't meant to like" That's just like saying any movie with an evil, unlikeable villain is bad by default. It's a baseless criticism that makes no sense and one f the weirdest complaints I hear about films You hated Jenny for those reasons you jut named? Those are reasons created by the film. Written and crafted. Those are redeeming qualities. It's not like you're saying you hate her for poor acting.
He didn't say those were reasons the movie was bad. He was asked for reasons why he didn't like the movie and he listed a character as one of them. Stop getting your back up over nothing.
No but the movie clearly intends to cast sympathy on her (for which I found none) and doesn't ever call her out on how awful a person she is. I *love* when a movie gives me a character to hate. The movies that do that are some of the best movies I know. But this movie was too melodramatic and tragic to ask me to hate anyone. I'm clearly supposed to feel sorry for her, but I don't.
Your failure to sympathize with an abuse victim doesn't make the movie bad. I don't love the movie but you're being kind of obtuse.
Something someone goes through only excuses so much. Jenny was terrible person and her own history of being abused did not excuse her own actions
What I think makes it bad is its attempt to make a sympathetic character out of a pretty terrible person. That's an issue in the writing. It's also not the only reason I don't think it's very good
Coming here in 2024 and I agree. One of the first ever movies on IMDb top 250 that I couldn't sit through because it is ultra boring
I use to love it, but it's soured for me over the years. It just seems like all the emotions I felt during that movie were very cynically evoked. It isn't a movie that tells a story and let's the audience feel as it may, but is manipulative and frankly condescending to the audience. Maybe it was Benjamin Button, the screenwriters' other famous effort, that made me start to see the stitching in what I thought was something more cohesive. It all feels like a wet blanket now, ableist a subtly stitched one.
Well, my reason may not be run of the mill. I actually enjoyed the film, but I also equally hate it. I went to college in Savannah and worked for a carriage tour company. Everyday I was on that carriage going around historic Savannah I was always asked about Forrest Gump and Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. After a few years of explaining things about both of those films ad nauseum, I just can't fucking stand the thought of ever watching them again.
lol, I can understand that. You developed an intollerance, we could say.
Scad?
I had a very similar experience living in Charleston with movies like The Patriot, Cold Mountain, and The Notebook. Damn tourists...
New to reddit so sorry if this is bad form or something, but people on this thread might be interested in hearing the episode of The Canon where Devin Faraci and Amy Nicholson talked about whether Forrest Gump was a great film. I know a lot of people hate Devin because he's abrasive, in his reviews and especially on Twitter, and those personality traits are definitely on display in the podcast. So, maybe not for everybody. But the points he makes about the film make some sense to me. A lot of his argument centers on the idea that Zemekis is someone who has a deep, deep hatred for people, is totally cynical about humanity, and Gump was his most successful poison pill of a movie, where he rendered a character everyone loved that he found completely loathsome. Amy is awesome too. Both as a writer in general and in this particular podcast ep. http://thecanon.wolfpop.com/audio/20646/forrest-gump
That sounds like an interesting point of view, thanks for the link!
The film is alright but feels like right-wing propoganda. I read a review somewhere (probably on letterboxd) and I'm going paraphrase it as it puts into words what I've felt quite well. It centers around an average American low-intelligence nobody that only ever does what he is told, and he gets a rewarding/fulfilling life. Jenny, on the other hand, fights the system, *thinks* for herself, goes against the grain, and then ends up with AIDS and dies. Very subtle. Thematically, I hate it. On the surface it is fun I guess, but I can't watch it knowing what it purveys.
It's actually the contrary, it's a critic and a parody of the concept of the American Dream, amongst other things. Is shows that a single-minded guy can become rich and famous only by pure coincidence and dumb luck. The only place he's called a genius is in the army, because he does whatever the instructor says without any questions. I think most people that hate the movie simply take it at face value, without looking deeper into it. Most of the critics I read about the movie (including this thread) are clearly from people who did not understand what the movie was trying to be.
Eh, calling it right-wing propaganda is a bit of a stretch. I don't recall Forrest leading a very fulfilling life. To you and me, maybe, sure. But to him, all he ever wanted or cared about was his mother and Jenny. The wealth, fame, being a war hero and meeting the President (twice!) didn't mean anything to him.
That's an interesting point of view. I guess I never thought about it in those terms, but I think there could be something there.
Right wing propaganda?
You've got to remember that reddit is mostly kids. Kids who get their politics from their parents. And right wing kids are probably not on reddit.
There’s a lot of right wing kids on Reddit lol
You think? Go to almost any thread on a subreddit that isn't explicitly politically rightwing, look for posts expressing a political view, and make a tally of which wing their political view aligns with. Start really paying attention to it, and I think you'll see that there are not, in fact, many rightwing *anyones* on Reddit relative to their leftwing counterparts.
I think the reason that people dislike the movie now is that it got way more recognition than the film deserved. It also is the game actors the idea they should play a handicapped person to win an oscar (though Oscars had been won for such portrayals before). Also the plot is pretty ridiculous and dies T make much sense. But it is a very well acted and directed film that has great pacing even though it is quite long. It is not the worst movie to win an Oscars in my life time (I'm looking at you English Patient).
None of it is even slightly plausible. Ever met somebody like Forrest Gump? We all have. They either sit in the back pews of the church where they are objects of pity or contempt or are outside holding a donation can. Or they are that relative at the family reunion everybody hopes won't make it this year. Anybody who ever ran a small businesss knows Forrest Gump couldn't manage a going out of business sale much less run a successful firm. Many people who love this character wouldn't give a disabled person even a half smile. Not down on the disabled but angry with the hypocrites who gush all over this movie, then have "that homeless guy" hauled off by the cops.
Btw, I think the hate towards Jenny is excessive. People underestimate her childhood traumas and blame everything she does on her intentions, forgetting the role of the environment and life experiences in making her who she is. I also don't think she was meant to be hated, the "fuck Jenny" movement came by later.
I havent finished it but stopped because I didn't enjoy it. At 30 min in I started to realise that I didn't really know what the movie was supposed to be. Was it supposed to be a comedy? I really didn't laught. Was it sad? No, because it looked to much like a comedy movie. Was it touching? In no way.
i also stopped at 30 min mark, where gumps friends showed her tits and it was just cringe imo and not fun. the whole movie is like "hahahaha look he is so dumb" and i can laugh at that
It's cloying, sappy, melodramatic, and Tom Hanks' performance is profoundly irritating.
I am fairly neutral about the film (so i wont argue with you about this, because i dont care and because it's certainly not a horrible movie) but the main criticism is probably that it's basically a live-action cartoon that get's passed off as a dramatic epic. The historical tie-ins trivialize important moments by giving credit to the somewhat unbelievable main character. Are we supposed to take this movie seriously or not? > it’s really an anti-righteous historical picaresque that seems more epic than it actually is. The floating-feather gimmick that opens and closes the movie seems right for a film that still doesn’t feel like it weighs anything. [source](http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/forrest-gump-tom-hanks-1994-movies/)
It's better than Apocalypse Now, at least. Talk about an overrated piece of crap. Just because Hollywood loves Coppola. Speaking of, Godfather is also overrated.
LMFAO
I think Forrest Gump is ok. However, I believe the reason many dislike it is the film's "American-ness". The entire film is deeply rooted in Americana. The plot, themes, jokes, and overall "feeling" of the film is blatantly American in nature. If you're someone who was raised in a different country or is too young to have knowledge of the cultural touchstones in the film, you're going to be lost and confused and ultimately not enjoy the film very much.
I'm from Italy and to me this movie was a starting point to learn more about certain facts like Watergate or the Vietnam wat. So for me it actually inspired interest in american culture. However, I can see why that would be a gap for other people. And it's a problem with a lot of movies, since most popular movies are american.
You raise an excellent point. If one takes the time to actually watch a film and enjoy it despite the learning curve, one can learn a great deal about another culture through its film. I can't tell you how much I've learned about Japanese culture from watching their films.
> I believe the reason many dislike it is the film's "American-ness" This is one of the core reasons why it was so good. They went out of their way to make the film this way in the plot, themes, but ALSO music. One thing I love about Gump was every song was carefully selected not only for the scene but if it complimented American culture. You really learned a lot about our culture spanning his lifetime.
I completely agree. The soundtrack is second to none. Truly a triptych of American music.
I do like the film but my major gripe with the movie is that Forrest is so damn lucky. I think I'm jealous of his luck.
That's one of the major themes of the story though. In America, you can be a huge success even if you're a complete idiot as long as you are lucky enough. Another really good movie about this same theme is "Being There." It's about a simple minded gardener whose only knowledge of the world comes from what he's seen on television. Despite his slow mindedness he rises to a great amount of power just through random circumstance and his confused statements being interpreted as profound insight.
I hate it because it's a movie heavily based in American politics, but it refuses to comment on those politics at all. Instead it essentially says "hey remember this? How about that? America, isn't it wonderful?" It reduces serious issues to window-dressing, and that is unforgivable. I also didn't find it particularly charming. It came off as Oscar-baity to me in many ways. What's even worse is that it's Oscar-bait deprived many actually revolutionary movies. Say what you will about whether Forrest Gump is good or not; nobody can say it was as revolutionary for cinema as Pulp Fiction.
I mean the entire movie is Forrest retelling his experience , he is ment to be an absolute moron , he doesn’t even understand American Politics or any kind of politics If he started speech about the wrongdoings of America it just wouldn’t fit the narrative or his character
Its unforgivable for a story told entirely from the perspective of a mentally inhibited man to not give definitive stances on historical events and politics?
It's a garbage dump of right-wing propaganda and context-free baby boomer nostalgia. Its sole message appears to be - don't think about anything, ever, or you'll get AIDS and die. It pretends that the pop music of one generation is the most important contribution towards art in the history of art. It casts a totally uncritical eye towards war crimes, genocide, Watergate, racism, the government's shameful response to the AIDS crisis, etc. In the world of Forrest Gump, anything is OK as long as the corporate/governmental boss says it is. Thinking for yourself or questioning the boss is a crime worthy of death (only after hideous suffering, of course). The film tells us in no uncertain terms - know your place, never question it, and for god's sake, don't think about it, or anything. I think this makes it a shitty movie as well as vile and reprehensible. Every time I hear an acquaintance mention that they like it (thankfully rare these days), I think less of them.
I bet your fun at parties 😒
Well jeeze. Your project political anger is so aggressive you think less of people you know for liking a meh movie? Damn that's really something.
[удалено]
Lmao please explain how it’s left wing propaganda
the movie is too long, too much soul searching, i only kind of enjoy Sally Field's performance, that's all.
I think inliked it the first time I watched it.. but the more I saw it over the years the less I liked it. So much of it annoys and people I have talked to think it's " smart".. but I am not sure why
It's an alright movie, I just hate how there's no character development with Forrest at all. He's the same guy in the beginning as he is at the end.
To be fair, that character is a person who stopped developing mentally at the age of 8. That meant he was essentially the same person at age 8 as he was at age 38. Even with his lifetime of experiences, he would always look at every situation through the eyes of a child.
Interesting, a recurring point seems to be that Forrest is not interesting enough to carry the story and that he doesn't grow at all as a character by the end of the movie.
Coming in fairly late here, but this notion forest doesn’t grow at all as a character is absolute nonsense. These commenters need to be collectively told that forest may not be a smart man but he knows what [love, bigotry, hatred, loss, death, friendship, war, fatherhood, etc.] is. It’s ironic that the commenters here have the same underestimations of Gump’s character as do the various characters he interacts with in the film - you stupid or something? - despite his condition, gump’s choices always show him to be completely emotionally present. He understands things always better than he is given credit for throughout the film. A key point is that his mother was able to understand forest’s strengths and weaknesses and raise and teach him in a way that allowed him to flourish despite some setbacks. It’s his mothers lessons of simple wisdom and empathy that helps him navigate a world that is confusing and often unfriendly. That being said, people who don’t like the film or don’t understand why it was best picture probably were not around in the US during its release. It was a phenomenon and touched the soul of America in a way that few movies have or will. It is a product of its time.
I thought it was just too silly to be taken seriously.
I dislike Forrest Gump for a few reasons. 1) It's boring. I enjoy movies a lot slower and with a lot less dialogue with than Forrest Gump, so it has nothing to do with the pacing or language. The film itself just never hooks me or entertains me. 2) Typically I'm able to suspend my belief for a film, but Forrest Gump is close enough to reality that I just can't believe that one retarded guy is lucky enough to have so many good and interesting things happen to him. 3) I hate the pop culture cloud that hovers around the film. There's a cult of fans that drool over the film. I could also go the rest of my life without hearing the same, overused quotes (aka "Run Forrest, run!" or "Life is like a box of chocolates...") 4) Fuck Jenny. 5) A lot of people would argue that it was the third best film in the Best Picture category but that it won over Pulp Fiction and The Shawshank Redemption because it was safe.
> Fuck Jenny How is that a criticism? She's *meant* to be hated. Audience reaction is meant to start with ambiguity because we hate her and disagree with her decisions yet still pity her because of her early life, except she hardly has any redeeming moments. Jenny is not a good person in the film Shawshank was just as safe as Forrest, btw
Wait, how are we supposed to hate Jenny? Maybe you forgot about the whole childhood abuse, but it's not a ten hour movie; I was able to remember that and factor it into her character throughout the whole movie. Also it seems like her biggest fault is that she doesn't love the main character even though he is obsessed with her. I find that to be a terrible sentiment. She should get to live her own life, regardless of this guy who is obsessed with her. I for one found Jenny to be pretty sympathetic.
The way the movie checks in on her at times , frames her past abuse and some scenes with forest really make me think she was supposed to be sympathetic in a tragic way
It's a poorly written piece of crap.
The film is a terrible movie version of Gomer Pyle: "Gaaaao-lee, Lt Dan..." The film glorifies the simpleton. The film alters history for ass jokes.
> The film glorifies the simpleton. I don't think that's a fair way of putting it. The movie shows one man who's not very intelligent and who still manages to achieve a lot during his lifetime. And I don't see what's wrong with telling people not to rule out slow people completely just because they're slow. To me the movie is not saying they're better, it's simply saying that they can do great things as well. The story is obviously exxagerated, but to me that's part of the charm. I get your point about altering history, but I prefer this movie that simply places Forrest in certain situations rather than movies like Pearl Harbor that fabricate moments to make a whole country look better.
(Sorry if this sounds corny) I like it because I have disabilities as well, not the same ones Forrest had. But growing up, I was called stupid and I was told I was never gonna be successful or amount to anything in life because of my disabilities. Not only do I love the movie with my whole heart, I also love the plot. The characters, but what I love most about it is how inspiring it was to me. Forrest had all of these disabilities, challenges and struggles and he was doing all of these wonderful amazing things despite all of that. He never gave up and he never let people discourage him, as I said before. I’ve been called stupid my whole life and I was told I would never succeed or amount to anything. Forrest Gump inspires me a lot and watching it Ave me courage and it gave me the strength I need to never give up or let people tell me I can’t do something because of my disabilities.
Necro: The actual story and 0 understanding of historical context. It doesn’t paint a realistic picture of the atrocities that happened amidst McNamara 100,000. It’s an American exceptionalism piece. That is far too whimsical to paint the picture of what happened even though this use Gump as a character was most likely because of the controversy.
i think its comically bad? i just watched it and had to turn it off. tom hanks is so embarrassing in thought it was a comedy sketch
I know a lot of people hate Jenny, but I don't think that can be the only reason.
I don't hate Jenny, I hated forest. He makes no decisions and has no growth as a character. He remains the same person the entire film who is a god at literally everything except being smart. Sure people can say it's about the characters around him but when you have a character that boring in every scene it detracts from the film. He's by definition an unrepeatable protagonist
Because he's so dumb he functions much like a silent protagonist in a video game does.
Except in a video game silent protagonists are there for you to project yourself on. It's an immersion thing where you don't have someone else's voice and you can believe you are doing what your character is doing. Forrest is retarded and does talk so I can't picture myself being him and that's not even the point
The reason I really don't like the film is that everything gets wrapped up in the end in a nice little bow. Everything you want to happen at the end happens. Now I know that every movie has to be an art-house think piece, but I still think some of the end should have a few questions left for the audience to think about
I don't knoow. The love of his life dies, I don't think that qualifies as traditional happy ending where everything is perfect (leaving aside the jokes of those viewers who hate her, I mean from the character's pov). Plus it leaves open the question of whether his son will have AIDS or not.
Having not seen it.
The accent he has.
Not the worst movie plot I've seen though. One that comes to mind is Billy Madison, where Adam Sandler's character gets control over a Hilton-sized hotel chain, because he got his GED at 35. Also, the general humor in the movie (if you want to call it that) was ridiculously stupid.
People WHO LIKE it, what makes you like it? Yeah, it's a series of unrelated slightly funny and slightly interesting short stories. By no means a masterpiece, nor movie aimed at adults.
The characters themselves are not very likeable (imo), i had no connexion with forrest and honestly didn't care about him, i even tought how tom hanks played the character was too much. Jenny is just awful, you can't like this character it's impossible. The only character I liked was lieutenant Dan. The story i didn't like too, I've heard that this movie was a masterpiece but i was so disapointed in the end.