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Forrest Gump Movie Review – Starring Tom Hanks and Robin Wright

Posted on 2007 under Comedy, Drama, Romance

Forest Gump"Forrest Gump" is an amusing tale of a mildly retarded man who ends up meeting three presidents as well as making a fortune and participating in and influencing several key historical events. Tom Hanks does a terrific acting job as Gump. The use of computer graphics imagery (CGI), by which Gump is shown meeting the presidents and Lt. Dan Taylor (Sinise) is made to appear as if his legs have been amputated, is also impressive.

Forrest Gump is born in a small town in Alabama, but he's born mildly retarded and handicapped, for which his legs are put in braces. His mother has frequent guests at her house, including Elvis Presley, before he becomes famous.

Once Forrest starts school, he falls for a blonde classmate named Jenny. Kids at his school pick on him because of his condition, but Jenny tells him to run from them, so he breaks his leg braces and runs as fast as he can, his adversaries unable to catch him.

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The same thing happens to him in high school. This time, however, Forrest ends up running through the football field of the University of Alabama while a game is being played. The coach is so impressed that he puts Forrest on the team and gives him a scholarship, so he gets to attend college. Forrest plays exceptionally well, even getting invited to the White House to meet President Kennedy.

A few years later, Forrest gets drafted and sent to fight in Vietnam. There he meets Bubba, a black man whose family is in the shrimp business. He promises Bubba that he'll go into the shrimping business with him after the war. One day, the platoon is attacked by the Viet Kong and several soldiers become seriously wounded. Forrest carries several of them back, including Lt. Dan Taylor, head of the platoon, who'd had both his legs shot off. Dan is at first very upset with Forrest for saving his life since he now has no legs and he comes from a long line of soldiers who died in combat. Bubba becomes fatally injured.

During the war, Forrest learns to play ping pong and becomes an expert at it. As a result, he gets sent to China to compete and is given $25,000 to endorse a new set of ping pong paddles. President Nixon meets him and puts him up at the Watergate hotel, where Forrest witnesses the Watergate break-in and inadvertently reports it to the front desk, initiating the Watergate scandal.

Forrest uses most of the $25,000 he'd earned from ping pong to buy a shrimping boat and go shrimping with Dan, keeping a promise to Bubba. One day a huge storm hits, resulting in Forrest retrieving a boatful of shrimp. Furthermore, every other shrimping boat gets destroyed in the storm, giving Forrest a monopoly on the shrimp. As a result, Forrest makes a fortune. He gives most of the money to Bubba's mother, though.

Forrest returns to Jenny, whose life has been hell. He becomes intimate with her and wants to marry her, but she refused. Forrest becomes heartbroken and decides to run away. He ends up running continuously for three years, crossing the country several times and attracting a large group of followers. He then gets tired and decides to return home.

Back home, Forrest gets a call from Jenny, who now has a son whom she tells him is his. Forrest and Jenny get married, but she has a fatal disease (presumably AIDS), which she dies from shortly thereafter.

Rated: PG-13

Runtime: 142 min

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