Redundant, Sentimentalist Crap

Rating: 2/10 (20 August 2002)

For the life of me I will never understand the popularity of this movie. It is nothing more than a tedious, painfully melodramatic mess.
The entire film is based on a gimmick that is repeated ad nauseum until eventually I just wanted to chew off one of my hands instead of watching another minute. That gimmick consists of inserting Forrest into an historic event and watching him emerge triumphant. That the film repeatedly has Forrest living through (and becoming a hero in) the most tumultuous times in recent American history---Vietnam, segregation, the Cold War, etc.---is an insult to the people who lived through those times. To say that Forrest, with all his moronic wisdom, is smarter than those who actually experienced the event into which Forrest is digitally inserted is nothing short of an affront to America itself.
One of the greatest tragedies in its Oscar sweep is that "Gump" won for Best Editing over "Hoop Dreams," a movie culled from over 300 hours of footage. "Hoop" is riveting for every minute while "Gump" drags on and on with superfluous scene after superfluous scene. Could that "Forrest running back and forth across the US" have possibly been milked any longer? This lasts 15 minutes with no reason except to portray the passage of time.
And as for Forrest's "soul mate," Jenny, this little slut is a despicable character who abuses Forrest throughout his entire life, both mentally and emotionally, and shows him nothing but disrespect. This character does not deserve our sympathy, she deserves our contempt.
"Forrest Gump" is woefully, abominably bad. Its main gimmick is cute the first time you see the movie, but after one viewing the entire facade comes crashing down to reveal a redundant plot, mediocre acting (Hanks is an Oscar-caliber actor, but not for this dreck; he was better in both "Cast Away" and "Saving Private Ryan") and inept editing.
In my opinion, this stands as the least deserving of all Best Picture Oscar winners.
Rating: 2/10