1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die- Forrest Gump

#917- Forrest Gump (1994)
Starring: Tom Hanks, Robin Wright, Gary Sinise
Directed by: Robert Zemeckis


Plot Summary: Forrest Gump grew up with mental and physical disabilities. Despite what other people thought of him, Forrest's mother reminded him that he could still do great things in life. Forrest narrates all the great things he was able to do in his life, from playing college football, meeting multiple Presidents, fighting in the Vietnam War, running across the country, and even falling in love. Forrest tells his life story while waiting at a bus stop, in search of his true destiny.  


Forrest Gump is another one of those movies that I never got around to watching and only recently decided to sit down and watch. When I finally sat down and watched it, I was expecting this wonderful movie that would really speak to me. When it was over, I felt like I missed something. I thought the movie was good, but I had trouble seeing why many considered it to be one of the greatest movies of all time. So I re-watched it for this review, and it did grow on me, but I was still left with a handful of issues with the film that I don't hear very many talk about when discussing the film.

Forrest Gump will always be the role that Tom Hanks is best known for. Hanks had experience being a leading man, but playing Forrest Gump really helped him break out and define his career. Hanks was able to become Forrest Gump, making it easy to forget that Hanks is simply playing a part in a film. Hanks is able to make Gump a charming character, but there are times where I felt Gump was becoming a stereotype in and of himself. A lot of his lines seemed repetitious and it seemed like Gump wasn't going to have as strong a development as I would've hoped. As a main character, Gump is suitable to carry a film, but he isn't my favorite character in the movie simply because he stays the same as a person from beginning to end, with little to no impact in terms of development.

Robin Wright plays Forrest's love interest, Jenny Curran. Am I the only one who thinks Jenny kinda sucks? As a character, Jenny is one of the most irritating love interests I've ever seen on film. While Forrest joins the war effort after college, Jenny joins a movement of hippies. Her behavior is very self-destructive and she rarely listens to Forrest as he is trying to help do what's best for her because he loves her. Because of this, I had a very tough time warming up to Jenny, and when she's the love interest, that is a very BIG problem. I don't necessarily blame Robin Wright, but more that Jenny is a product of the time, and that by the end of the film, she does wise up to Forrest. But, there's something with her as a character that, to me, didn't translate very well.

My favorite part of the movie is actually Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan Taylor. Sinise gave, in my opinion, a performance that is often overlooked when people watch the film. But I felt he was the character with the most depth. He is the character that gives Forrest thoughts on his destiny, as well as receiving a lot of development after the Vietnam War. Lieutenant Dan doesn't feel like he'll be a supporting character in a lot of the film, more like a character that is only there when Forrest is in Vietnam, but proves to be important as he becomes an important part of Forrest's life after Vietnam. What's great about Sinise is that he had to play multiple stages and emotions while playing Lieutenant Dan. I think of Lieutenant Dan and I can think of about five different stages of his character development, all that I feel Sinise does tremendously well.

The major problem that kept me from loving Forrest Gump was its repetitive structure. It's mostly Forrest narrating his life from the '50s through the '70s, but his actions seem to have a recurring pattern. He meets three different Presidents, overcame adversity in numerous activities, and ends up having to let 3 different people in his life go by the end of the film. Throughout all of that, I couldn't help but feel like it was getting old. There's a line where Forrest talks about being invited to the White House a third time "So I went. Again. And I met the President of the United States. Again" and I replied with "Yes, he already did that. Can he do something different?" The film is often described as an epic, but I think Forrest's life would have left a larger impact if he had a wider variety of accomplishments portrayed on film.


Rating:  3.5 out of 5 stars.

Even if I think the movie gets repetetive, Forrest Gump does give us great performances from Tom Hanks and Gary Sinise. The film does have a unique charm to it, just like Forrest himself, and I recommend everyone should see it at least once to witness one of films most beloved characters.

Comment below to share your thoughts on the movie or to discuss a topic that I left out of my review 

Forrest Gump and movie images are copyrighted by Paramount Pictures