I think LT Dan is the most important character in the movie. No, not because he made peace with God swimming in an endless ocean, but because he finally eschewed self-pity for inner strength, all inspired by dunderhead, of course.
I was rather touched by the attempt at pity sex, actually.
Lt. Dan was a badass. If he had wanted to turn the film into an exercise of banging random whores leglessly, he would have. He had bigger shrimp to fry.
Or: he’s left with a son he never thought he’d have, loads of money - if he’s doing that job, it’s by choice - loads of memories of an interesting life, a good friend who’ll stand by him, excellent health and many years ahead of him to make new friends or meet another love.
People are allowed to dislike a movie. If the movie is hyped beyond belief and even awarded an Oscar, it’s not surprising for that dislike to become stronger.
Or bake or broil or BBQ or salad or a sandwich or gumbo or soup or cocktail or deep-fried or stir-fried or pan-fried or …or that’s about it.
lol
I think one of the reasons the film is disliked by some people, not necessarily people in this thread, is that it was hugely popular. Big time number one movie so for a while, everyone was “Forrest Gump was wonderful” and there are many people who, when something becomes popular with the masses, must reject that thing. Look at Titanic or Avatar. Same thing. Every now and then a film becomes very popular and becomes part of our culture. Almost forced upon us. There are some people who go to movies once a year. These people go see a film like Forrest Gump and love it. Film fans, who see many films a year, recognize the plot devices that they have seen a hundred times before and are not as impressed by the movie. But when the masses of, well, ignorant film goers anoint a film as the best thing ever, it can be annoying to people with more sophisticated tastes. In other words, people who think they know everything really annoy those of us who do.
Personally I thought the movie was good. I did not like some of the more simplistic things. Basically the scene that burns me is the hug in the reflecting pool between Jenny and Forrest. In the movie, this ends all hard feelings about Viet Nam. A hippy girl and a soldier hugged, everything is OK. Riiiiiiiight. That was glurgy shit right there.
But there are many more good parts about the film than bad.
If Forrest was so happy about being an idiot, why was he so concerned when he found out he had a son he had to ask “Is he like me?” This is the last thing on earth Forrest would wish on anyone. Forrest is not happy being retarded.
I saw it with one Eurobabe and we started cuddling but the abuse angle put me off the mood whenever it came up.
Even if I didn’t like the movie, I would forgive a lot for this particular scene. I tear up every single time I see it.
Forrest: You’re a mama, Jenny.
Jenny: I’m a mama. His name’s Forrest.
F: Like me!
J: I named him after his daddy.
F: He got a daddy named Forrest, too?
J: You’re his daddy, Forrest. Isn’t he beautiful?
F: He’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. But … is … is he smart? Or is he …
J: He’s very smart. He’s one of the smartest in his class.
Some of us saw Avatar early and said upon leaving that it sucked, having the worst script in the known universe. Many films that make lots of money are bad. Really, really bad. Realizing that they’re bad has nothing to do with whether other people like them.
This whole “they only hate it because the masses like it” trope may work for a small subculture of wannabe hipsters but I don’t find much of it in the real world. People make up their own minds for their own personal reasons.
On the other hand, it could be that what you and others find bad is actually enjoyable to me (for instance, I liked Avatar quite a bit), and vice versa. What I might find excruciating to watch or read might fill you with delight. The world is funny that way.
I agree that by and large people don’t hate stuff just because it’s popular (though I actually do know people who have a knee jerk reaction to anything popular).
-XT
Except for all the posters here in this thread trotting out the “of course we hated it mainly because so many other people exalted it” reason for hatting it.
Then again, the dope has always been full of special people.
Well, waaaay back at the top of the first page I gave my knee jerk thumbs down to this movie. As I read along I thought, ya know, I haven’t seen it in a long time, perhaps some reevaluation is in order, so I watched it last night. But no, I still don’t like it. It’s boring, contrived, and maudlin. I probably don’t feel as strongly as I did in '95 cuz it’s not in your face anymore, but still not into it.
I don’t see where anyone has done that in this thread. Some people have noted that their dislike of the film was amplified by the amount of positive attention the film received at its release, but that’s not the same thing at all.