Hanks' tour de force

Rating: 9/10 (26 June 2000)

I recently watched FG again. It had been several years since I saw it the first time. My memory of the film, and specifically Tom Hanks' performance, was that how hard can it be to play a retarded person? After viewing the movie again, I remember what a real tour de force this role was for Hanks. He was fantastic here, and the whole film remains extremely entertaining. When you've seen it before, you don't concentrate so much on the special effects putting Hanks into historical footage. Some of those effects were better than others, but it was a really cute trick. The best effects, however were the computer removal of Gary Sinise's legs. I watched closely and this was absolutely seamless, looked perfect on the screen. Robin Wright also deserves mention for a great performance, as does Sinise and Sally Fields.