I admired everything about Forrest Gump except the movie. The feel of the times and events I lived through (I can give you almost a decade, I think) Hanks's performance, Robin Wright's performance (yes, she's brilliant in House of Cards, but if you're hoping for Jenny, don't even go there). And I admire Robert Zemekis as a director.
I won't say I hate the movie, but I don't like it. The first time I saw it I walked out furious and in tears--the tears because it's a very successful manipulation, and I couldn't help crying. The fury because I didn't feel the manipulative gears and levers were hidden in any way: the fact that I could see them coming felt contemptuous to me. And I have serious problems with a movie that suggests that the way to get through life is to be stupid. I have now seen it twice more, and still feel the same way; it wasn't that I had had a bad day that colored my viewing the first time. Given the strong anti-intellectual tone of a lot of public discourse these days, I think this was a movie ahead of its time--and not in a good way.
On the other hand, I realize I'm in the minority on this one. 8)
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I won't say I hate the movie, but I don't like it. The first time I saw it I walked out furious and in tears--the tears because it's a very successful manipulation, and I couldn't help crying. The fury because I didn't feel the manipulative gears and levers were hidden in any way: the fact that I could see them coming felt contemptuous to me. And I have serious problems with a movie that suggests that the way to get through life is to be stupid. I have now seen it twice more, and still feel the same way; it wasn't that I had had a bad day that colored my viewing the first time. Given the strong anti-intellectual tone of a lot of public discourse these days, I think this was a movie ahead of its time--and not in a good way.
On the other hand, I realize I'm in the minority on this one. 8)