Le monde selon Garp

Based on the best-selling novel by John Irving, here is the big screen equivalent of a good read. Robin Williams almost plays it down, but thoroughly shines in the title role as T.S.Garp in this, his first proper feature film(well you can hardly include 'Popeye' in that category!).

This is an amazingly rare look at a story that evolves around happiness, sadness, heartbreak, love, and all the other natural emotions that this young,up and coming novelist experiences throughout his far from normal existence that culminates in a dark satire on many comical situations.

Some great moments to be had including a great performance from John Lithgow as the transsexual ex-football player who befriends Garp and his Worldly renowned Women's lib Mother played brilliantly by Glenn Close in her film debut.

You'll laugh... especially at the way Garp was conceived and to find out what his initials T.S. actually stand for. You'll rejoice... at the moment when Garp finds out he is to become a father for the first time. You'll cry...many times...

This movie has got to be one of the most underrated masterpieces of the 1980's, and in many ways sustains a cult following as being one of Robin Williams' first major movie projects.

Don't let this one get away-it doesn't deserve to be missed!

The World According to Garp is an unconventional film, to say the least. Not so much in the sense of how it looks, or how it is acted. More than anything the film stands out because it is a human drama that doesn't take a stance or one particular point of view. T. S. Garp is simply a man trying to live his life amongst all manner of eccentric characters and unlikely situations. And like life, things happen. People grow old. There are moments of joy. There are moments of tragedy. And people die.

Robin Williams plays the title character known by most as simply "Garp". His mother, played with dignified enthusiasm by Glenn Close, has brought him up all by herself. She is a nurse and during WWII, she used the sperm of a dying tail gunner who she happened to be caring for in his final moments. To call this woman a feminist would be a magnificent understatement. Her sexuality is never made that clear to the viewer but is is inferred by some around her that she is in fact a lesbian. Her only relationship with a man that we learn of is the encounter that produced her son, and she spends much of the film condemning the lusty ways of men and boys. As the film goes on, she becomes a famous writer and feminist leader. Garp spends much of his life trying to be a successful writer himself and raising a family, but he never seems to escape his mother's shadow.

The plot simply follows the life of Garp and his family members. A great many things happen to these people over the span of many years. Careers are made, children are born, affairs are had, and the joys of life are often shattered by terrible tragedies. Williams is decent enough as Garp. He maybe acts a bit too zany in the light-hearted scenes, but he nails the more dramatic ones pretty well. That's the amazing thing about Robin Williams. The guy is an absolute nut most of the time he's in front of a camera, but when he bears down and plays something serious, it's stunning to see how great his range can be. He is an undervalued actor. Glenn Close steals this film though in terms of acting. She owns every scene she's in much like how her domineering character towers over that of her son's. The supporting cast is more than adequate with John Lithgow getting major props for his daring turn as a transsexual with a heart of gold. The film seems to take its share of jabs at radical feminism as it depicts a sect of women knows as the Ellen Jamsians. These women cut out their own tongues to protest the similar fate of a rape victim. And boy do these ladies HATE men. An act of violence in one of the final scenes shows how fanatical they can be. (as if cutting out their tongues wasn't bad enough!) Each person who views this film will probably see something different in it, and those are my favorite kinds of films. There are moments of definite humor, surprise, hope, and tragedy. You will not be bored. The film is based on a popular novel by John Irving and is worth 9 of 10 stars.

The Hound.

The World According to Garp is a very strange movie that I think I liked more than I disliked. It has some truly baffling stuff in it (there's a car accident at one point, and the way the scene ends - a freezeframe and a long, drawn-out close-up on one character - is just so jarring in a way that I don't think worked the way the filmmakers wanted it to), but some of the non-sequitur moments I liked... some guy just flying a plane into the side of a house during one seemingly peaceful scene early on. That's the kind of chaotic comedy that makes me love something like The Blues Brothers or It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World so dearly.

The cast is very good here, but I guess most of the big names here were still pretty close to the start of their careers - Robin Williams, Glenn Close, and John Lithgow, mostly. It's kind of a life story about one weird kid who grows up to be a weird man, and though I never quite understood what his deal was, the film was still interesting. It has a strange blend of comedy and tragedy, and it's messy, but in a way that kind of works. Life is chaotic, and there are right and wrong ways to get that message across on screen... I guess The World According to Garp mostly gets it right, even if I wasn't quite as moved as maybe I was supposed to be.

For the performances, unique tone, and general solid filmmaking, I feel like it's a worthwhile watch. It's a tad overlong, and borderline too weird at points, but it's interesting. It is one of those Robin Williams movies that feels particularly sad to watch since his passing, though... we hear When I'm 64 by The Beatles at a couple of points in the film, and Williams passed away at 63, which did make a surprisingly already quite sad film even sadder (the inverse of Hey Jude... taking a sad song and making it sadder - "Bye Jude"?)

WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP, THE **** Robin Williams, Glenn Close, Mary Beth Hurt, and John Lithgow offer terrific performances in this progressive look at the life of Garp--he's not an odd guy; he's just having to face the common problematic issues that come with childhood, adolescence, and adulthood. It's worth the watch to see the versatile mix of offbeat comedy and gritty believability when Garp and his mother move to New York and onward to find fulfillment. Even though things get over the top with the feminism/terrorism exploits in the conclusion, it all adds to the insight behind the wide range of characters. Rated R. 1982

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Adapting a novel to the screen is fraught with difficulties, and "The World According to Garp" meets those difficulties brilliantly. It is not slavishly faithful to the book as far as details go, but it omits those elements which will not translate well and makes whatever changes are needed to make the story work on film. Robin Williams is a fine Garp, Glenn Close is absolutely perfect as Jenny Garp (her performance was one of the few times I've seen the exact character I'd pictured in my head when I read the book up on the screen), and John Lithgow is funny and touching as transsexual Roberta Muldoon.