Forrest Gump

This is a powerful yet charming movie; fun for its special effects and profound in how it keeps you thinking long after it's over. Like others, I've seen this movie more than once. One comment I've never heard is that Forrest's simplicity is almost zen-like. I should read the novel to get the author's intention (I remember some people preferring the book and complaining that no one at the Academy Awards gave him any credit.) But rather than an implication that you should do what you're supposed to do and believe in God and you'll win in the end, I see it as zen-like, i.e., living in the moment and not having expectations or particular cravings (other than his loving Jenny.) So he ends up just stumbling into all the major historical events of the time. Granted, he achieves this only because he doesn't have the brains to think otherwise and actually have expectations, but so many of our problems are because we do have higher intellect and desires, which ironically makes us unhappy because we know what we are missing. We love our cats and dogs for the same simplicity and always being in the moment. There's a line in the movie wondering if everything is predestined or happens randomly or it's a combination of both. It is something to mull over for a long time.

Quite simply, the greatest film ever made.

Humour, sadness, action, drama and a Vietnam film all rolled into one.

I'm not a stone cold, heartless villain, but it takes a lot to make me cry when I watch a movie. Bambi's mother, I couldn't care less. Jimmy Stewart in, "Oh, what a wonderful life," - yeah right! The Lion King, when Mufasa bites the big one - on the verge.

But seriously - I bawled my big brown eyes out, on several occasions in this film. A real tear-jerker, and a wonderful character, played to perfection by Tom Hanks. Every bit as worthy for the Oscar as Rooney was to win the Premiership in 2007.

I cannot say it enough: This is THE film of all time. Watch it, and you'll see.

I remember John Byner, the stand-up comic and impressionist of the 1970s talking about guys crying at movies, how it's not an acceptable behavior. He advised the men in his audience to drop their keys, do something that gets them to lean forward, wipe their faces, and get things under control.

I dropped my keys watching Forrest Gump. Lieutenant Dan comes over the hill at Forrest and Jenny's wedding, new legs, fiancé at his side, clean-cut and happy.

Forrest states the obvious, "Lieutenant Dan, you gawt le-eggs!"

And the water-works just started to flow.

I sit up straight and clear my throat. Got 'em (the keys, that is). My wife leans over and gives me a kiss. She says, "That's why I love you."

Other than a few historical fussinesses and plot slickeries, none of which are worth mentioning, this is as close to a perfect, emotionally-satisfying entertainment as I have ever seen.

I love this movie. I never tire of the simple story of the guy with the lowest IQ in the room being the smartest guy in the room. It's filled with a patriotic decency you can only find in The Wizard of Oz and To Kill a Mockingbird.

When Dorothy is aching for home and the Wizard can't deliver, I drop my keys. When Scout points to the man behind Jem's bedroom door and says, "Hey, Boo," the fob goes flying.

The next time I get out my copy to show to my 11th Grade US History kids, I'll start fingering my key chain.

I can't help it.

When I first saw this movie I didn't appreciate it like I do now. I think it may have been because I was so young when I first saw it. Just recently I saw the movie again. What an amazing story and moving meaning. That movie teaches you so much about life and the meaning of it. That life isn't as bad as most people make it seem. That an innocent man can impact so many lives with his innocence. The meaning of the movie to me is that everyone needs to have a better outlook on life. That we need to appreciate more of the little things and not let the big things hold us back. That truly although life may throw us trials and tribulations like a box of chocolates but that we have to just bite into it and get through it even if we don't like it. That we all need to hold true to our values and not sink into a place that feels like there's no hope... I just love this movie. And anyone who hasn't seen it or who thinks that don't like it I seriously suggest seeing it or seeing it again. It truly is amazing...

... seems to be the theme of this film. Forrest Gump has an IQ of 70, is being raised by a single mom, lives in a remote part of the Deep South where there are few opportunities, and has legs that require that he wear braces as a child. Sounds like the recipe for a sad tale or at least a slow death from mediocrity right? No, instead, because Forrest isn't really bright enough to realize the situation he is in, he simply does what he's told to do or what occurs to him to be the right thing at the time and succeeds due to a lack of self doubt. He's told to run and he becomes the star of the Crimson Tide and an All American. When recovering from a war wound, he's taught ping-pong and winds up competing at the global level in China itself. He promises his dying friend Bubba that he'll go ahead with their plans and become a shrimp boat captain and his brand of seafood products becomes a household name.All along the way he never learns the lessons in life that tend to make the rest of us cynical.

Gump's childhood sweetheart Jenny starts out with high aspirations - she wants to be like Joan Baez and fight for world peace - and instead she winds up disillusioned, drug addicted, and a near suicide before age 30. She doesn't have Forrest's childlike innocence and this leads her to self-doubt and ultimately failure. Also, fate or "destiny" as the film calls it, is not on her side in one big way - her own father molested her as a child, which couldn't help but play a role in the decisions she made.

Now Gump does have a bunch of coincidences on his side - call it destiny if you will - the storm that beaches every shrimping vessel in the Gulf of Mexico but his, for example - but in most cases this is just the story of a man going through life without self doubt and that little voice that tells the rest of us "You can't do that! What are the odds! You'll fail! Make the safe choice!" To me, this is what this film is about. I think everyone sees something different in it. I highly recommend it as it is truly one of a kind. I remember when it came out it absolutely made professional reviewers crazy that people liked this film, probably because they didn't understand it.