Suffers from directorial influence

Rating: 4/10 (12 October 1999)

The best thing in this movie is Gary Sinise. He growls, smirks, and spits his way through a terrific performance before his character is converted to Forrest's religion. Other than that, there's not much meat in this movie. I thought Hanks was pretty good as Gump, but it's not a role that you can screw up too badly because there's very little character to slip into.

The biggest problem with it is the artificial, plastic directing job, something that other Zamekis productions suffer from also. The sequence of dying Lt. Dan ancestors is particularly egregious - it's supposed to be funny, I think, but doesn't quite make it. I'm also at a loss to explain why we needed the Gump within a Gump voiceover narration. It only adds to the syrupy tone with the kind of pseudo-humor you see in many TV commercials. This story could have told itself quite well without this and similar directorial tricks.
I was a little bit bothered by the right-wing sensibilities present, but not all that much. I'm used to the co-opting of counter-culture product to prove alternate ideals (like the idea behind John Lennon's "Imagine"). Using a false history as a dramatic device is OK with me, just do something interesting with it. Hollywood has a tendency to de-legitimize creativity as merely the accident of situation. Zamekis has done this before in Back to the Future, where Chuck Berry supposedly gets his inspiration for "Johnny B. Good" from one performance (instead of years of hard work). I hate it when this is used for a joke - and not a very good one, usually. Just like many things in this movie, it's pandering to the nostalgia of the audience. Similar things are done to Bear Bryant. But I digress.
The best scene in the movie is when Hanks sees Sinise at the dock and runs into the water to greet him. It sums up both characters beautifully. And despite (or maybe because of) the heavy borrowing from other movies, other good scenes are the barroom scene with Hanks and Sinise, the orgasm scene, and the initial meeting of Hanks and his Drill Sergeant. I mention these because they don't typify the piled-on heavy sentiment that the rest of the movie employs.