Not bad, but definitely no masterpiece

Rating: Null/10 (14 June 2004)

This movie is a great example of right-wing sophistry. It asks us to believe that it's best to just unthinkingly act according to our own moral inclinations (assuming, of course, that they are the product of simple and well-off Christian upbringing), and put blind faith in the existing order, which will of course self-correct if it ever errs. It glorifies the vast accumulation of wealth because you will of course share it around, and treats military service as an inevitability not to be questioned.
Now in all fairness, this is an oversimplification of the film's message. If this had been all there was to the film, it would likely have been a box-office bomb and generated as much negative feedback as it ultimately did positive. But this is the core of the film. The best that can be said for it is that it delivers this conservative message with several liberal flourishes, making it politically intriguing.
For example, the single mother who gets her unqualified son into school by having sex with the principal hardly squares with the kind of persona one would usually attribute to a 50s woman who is horrified by Elvis's pelvic antics. And it is to the film's credit that while it implies stupidity to be useful in all aspects of life, it explicitly states that it is your best friend in the military. The film does vilify a lot of the youth protest movements of the 60s, but it also seems to take a sardonic glee in Edgar Wallace being shot, and it plays for laughs Forrest Gump showing his ass to Lyndon Johnson. And note the photo of Marilyn Monroe in JFK's bathroom.
On paper, this would sound like an explosive movie, but most people seem to take it as just a harmless and fun experience. No doubt this is because of the core element -- Tom Hanks's performance. And honestly, this is excellent. Hanks makes Forrest Gump likable and sincere in a way few, if any, other actors could have. My personal Tom Hanks heaven will always be G.H. Dorr, PhD, from The Ladykillers, but this is deservedly some of his best-known work.