unusual is as unusual does

Rating: 6/10 (4 June 2005)

It seems that most people either love "Forrest Gump" or hate it. I am right down the middle. I didn't find this movie to be a masterpiece, but I thought that it was interesting how they did it. The title character (Tom Hanks) is of course a retarded Alabaman who grows up with his single mother (Sally Field). Throughout the movie, he plays a part in almost every major event of the post-WWII era, and in the process meets several distinguished personalities. All the while, he continues trying to get back together with his sweetheart Jenny Curran (Robin Wright Penn). Toeing the line between comedy (he shows his butt to LBJ) and drama (his friend Bubba gets killed in Vietnam), the movie never gets idiotic, although it was intermittently sappy.
Either way, I liked "Forrest Gump". It was the first Best Picture winner that I saw in the theaters, but I didn't consider it the best movie of 1994. In my opinion, that distinction goes to the under-appreciated "Shawshank Redemption".
Tom Hanks sure has come a long way since his debut, the slasher flick "He Knows You're Alone".