Very clever and funny movie that succumbs a bit to sentimentality

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2004)

CONTAINS SPOILERS
"Forrest Gump" is a very creative and clever movie that tells roughly thirty years of recent American history through the eyes of a rather stupid person who somehow manages to be present at many important events of the last half century. Tom Hanks, as Forrest Gump, meets three american presidents, inspires Elvis and John Lennon, becomes a war hero in Vietnam, and much more.
I must say that I had my doubts when I heard about this movie, but much to my surprise I found this movie to be often very funny. It's not a movie that constantly has you laughing out loud, but several jokes like Forrest teaching Elvis to dance are priceless, and there are a lot of quotable one-liners. Looking at other comments, I see that people have tried to see all kinds of political agendas behind this movie, but for the most part I think it should just be taken as harmless fun, although there are a couple of clear points of criticism (e.g. the movie claims that stupidity is the key to succeeding in the army, and that you can get a college degree by just being good at sports).
Technically, this movie is great. The special effects people have done a great job of making it look like Forrest Gump really was a part of history, and the costumes and settings are all completely convincing. The acting is also superb. Tom Hanks makes Forrest totally convincing, and the rest of the cast is great as well. Gary Sinise is probably the most underrated actor ever, this man deserves to get leading roles, not just supporting ones.

I do have a couple of gripes with this movie. For one, at over two-and-a-half hours, it's a bit on the long side. After about one-and-a-half hours, the novelty wears off a bit and while there are still some good scenes in the second part of the movie, the first half is definitely better. Also, towards the end the movie succumbs a bit too much into sentimentality. I mean, was it really necessary to overdo the tragic romance (including very tragic ending) between Jenny and Forrest in this way? In a movie that's mostly fairly lighthearted, putting so much emphasis on the rather melodramatic romance just seems a bit misplaced.
All in all though, "Forrest Gump" is a very amusing movie and often hilarious movie with a clever plot and superb acting, that unfortunately drags on for a bit too long and succumbs a bit to sentimentality in the end.

*** out of **** stars