Based on a book, this film details the extraordinary life of the fictional Forrest Gump (Tom Hanks) who has a slightly low IQ but has numerous hidden talents and often just happens to be in the right place at the right time.
He has a gift for running and thus gets a football scholarship for college, serves in Vietnam and saves his fellow soldiers, winning a Presidential medal of honor. He plays ping pong, becoming a minor celebrity, starts a shrimping business with Lt. Dan Taylor (Gary Sinise) in honor of his deceased friend, Bubba (Mykelti Williamson), always killing off the minority first, and then runs across the country just because it makes sense.
But despite all the success and fame, he is driven by his love for his best and life-long friend, Jenny Curran (Robin Wright) who has had a rough life compared to Forrest but she isn't blessed with his luck and makes some wretched decisions but they do finally end up together in the end, only to have their happy ending tragically cut short but Jenny's untimely death.
Despite the excellent acting, including a small but pivotal part for Sally Field as Forrest's mother, and special effects which include a blending of archival news footage and splicing Forrest into history, the film amounts to nothing more than a trifle, a brilliant trifle but a trifle nonetheless. Grade: B+
Side Notes:
-I guess I should the slightly questionable parentage of Jenny's son, Forrest, Jr (Haley Joel Osment), considering she is exhausted when she arrives to visit Forrest and then leaves abruptly after taking his virginity. We'll never know for sure, but it is something that I feel should be questioned.
-The virus Jenny dies of is never mentioned but it widely thought that she had AIDs.
-There are a lot of ways to cook or prepare shrimp.
-Jenny's childhood including being molested by her father, but he does get arrested while she was still young though it is never mentioned what for. Her sisters are never mentioned again.
-I'm glad that Dan finally got some legs and found love along the way. His life would have made a good film too.
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