Le monde selon Garp

"The World According To Garp" introduced me to several things dear to me when I saw it as a child: the Beatles (through the opening credits song), Robin Williams (okay, he's not dear to me, but I like his dramatic stuff) and an early understanding of what "bittersweet" meant. To be honest, I have never read John Irving's book. Although I probably will one day, I enjoy the movie too much and right now I don't want my perception of it altered. Beautifully acted, written, and photographed, "Garp" just moves me everytime I watch it. To this day, I haven't seen Robin Williams or Glenn Close play better roles than they do here, and John Lithgow is just a hoot as Roberta. Back to the bittersweet thing, I love the way this film will have you moved to tears one minute and laughing the next, just like real life. Obviously, there are a plethora of movies out there that achieve the same effect, this one just happens to be a personal favorite. Dramatic but never heavyhanded, funny but never silly, "The World According To Garp" is a simply perfect movie experience.

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.

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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This book is one of my favorites, so I had to see eventually how the movie stacked up. Not bad, but not perfect either. The movie takes so long to get going that the end seems rushed. If I hadn't read the book, I would have had a hard time really understanding the feud with the Ellen Jamesians or Pooh's hatred of Garp.

Still, this is one of Robin Williams's less annoying performances and a talented cast that at the time not many people had probably heard of. In the end, the movie is complex, at times funny and others sad, and maintains the spirit of the novel.

The book is better, IMO, but this is close enough. "The Cider House Rules" is an even better adaptation--if you like this, you'll love that.

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"?)