Forrest Gump

This film shouldn’t work.  It’s pure cheese, American of course.  The thing should crush under the weight of schmaltzy romance, nostalgia for landmark events in the second half of twentieth century America and Forrest Gump’s serendipitous coincidence riddled life.  But masterful filmmaking and the utmost sincerity of all involved somehow overcome what is a fucking insufferable exercise on paper.

How did Bob Zemeckis (Romancing the Stone, Flight) and co know they had something good on their hands?  I ask because the story of a low IQ southern man who bumbles his way through life and becomes involved in some of the most significant touchstones in American history and becomes world famous and a millionaire and winds up with the love of his life and transforms the lives he comes in contact with for the better is one of the dumbest sounding plots I’ve ever heard.  Maybe in an animation setting you could get away with this but live action?  Really?

And if that wasn’t enough of a challenge the filmmakers decided to play with the tone.  About half the time it’s fairly whimsical with Forrest (Tom Hanks (That Thing You Do!, Tales from the Crypt)) having silly encounters with various Presidents of the US where he embarrasses himself or he becomes a world class ping pong player.  You know, fun for the whole family type shit.

But there are really serious moments too like an all out war sequence where Forrest’s platoon gets massacred around him in Vietnam and his best friend dies in his arms.  Three or four assassinations are referenced, racism, domestic abuse, incestual pedophilia and drug abuse all show up.  It’s such a bizarre mix.

Keeping one foot firmly in reality has to be one of the main reasons for the film’s success.  This decision cuts the fairy tale angle enough to make the entire story more palatable.  Otherwise it would be much too saccharine.  Striking that balance is a tight rope walk and a half though.

Of course Tom Hanks is another huge reason the picture works.  He sells the character one hundred percent with the ultra thick Alabama accent and constant far off look in his eyes.  The key might be that Hanks pulls off this performance without a hint that you should feel sorry for him.  Forrest may not be too bright but he’s got the biggest heat of gold in the whole goddamn world.  He also excels at every endeavor in his life.  He’s never surprised at this success but it’s not something he expects either.  This attitude combined with the fact that he’s a hard worker intensely focused on whatever the task is at hand makes his accomplishments feel earned which is incredibly important.

Forrest had a rough upbringing with only his mother raising him, he was bullied by other kids, he almost died in Vietnam, his soulmate Jenny (Robin Wright (Toys, Moneyball)) keeps pushing him away and his mother died sorta young.  So these victories of becoming a college football star and suddenly owning a wildly successful shrimping company where he’s set for life money-wise seem valid.

On a technical level the film is a marvel as well.  There are many beautiful shots of the Gump residence and the surrounding property, some of the slick camerawork like the long floaty opening shot are neat and the effects shots where they insert Forrest into old historical footage are seamless.  I mean it’s startling how good that shit looks.  The only issue is the overdubbing of the famous people in the footage is absolutely terrible.  I don’t know how they got one aspect so perfect and completely dropped the ball on another.  Weird.

So I guess it’s no surprise that Forrest Gump is still good.  I think we were all fully aware of the massive corniness when it came out so there’s no revelation there either.  It was embraced back then for its genuineness and I’m doing the same here today.  Despite the odds the moments that should be inane are touching.  It’s kinda like being served a grilled cheese sandwich with a side of peas and carrots at a very fancy restaurant.  That sounds like a strange and less than stellar idea but dammit it’s pretty tasty.  And that’s all I have to say about that.