I've spent the past five years of my life having the same argument with Sean O'Connell, who also works here if you're new to the site. He is convinced "Forrest Gump" sucks. Like he doesn't think it's overrated. He thinks it's a legitimately terrible movie that's offensive to people from the South, has structural problems and is one of Tom Hanks' worst career performances. He hates Jenny. He hates people who say "Run Forrest Run", and he thinks it's real dumb that he just sits on a bench the whole movie.
I happen to like "Forrest Gump." I'm not going to say it's the best movie ever, but it's a great watch filled with fun music, poignant moments, enjoyable nostalgia and a good amount of shrimp conversation. Lieutenant Dan is also an all-time great character. When it shows up on cable, I watch at least twenty minutes of it every time. Would I do that if it sucks? No. Because it does not suck. It is mostly the opposite of suck.
I happen to like "Forrest Gump." I'm not going to say it's the best movie ever, but it's a great watch filled with fun music, poignant moments, enjoyable nostalgia and a good amount of shrimp conversation. Lieutenant Dan is also an all-time great character. When it shows up on cable, I watch at least twenty minutes of it every time. Would I do that if it sucks? No. Because it does not suck. It is mostly the opposite of suck.
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 My name is Sean O'Connell and I hate Forrest Gump.
00:03 And my name is Matt Rodden and I strongly like Forrest Gump.
00:07 [music]
00:13 It's not a good movie.
00:14 [laughter]
00:17 That is such an aggressive blanket statement, but go ahead.
00:20 Like it's a love story between this awful, awful woman, Jenny,
00:24 and how horrible she is to poor Forrest.
00:26 We're supposed to, by the end of this movie, feel bad when Jenny dies,
00:30 and I actually think that it's a weight lifted off of poor Forrest's back.
00:33 I think I can easily defend Jenny.
00:35 Okay.
00:36 She is a lost girl from an abused home.
00:39 Okay.
00:40 So she has no one in her life except for Forrest, who clearly has mental problems.
00:45 Yeah, it's a selfish move for her to finally come home when she doesn't have any more options.
00:49 Okay.
00:49 But what is she supposed to do?
00:51 When it competed for the Oscars, the other four movies that it beat
00:54 are iconically better films.
00:56 But it is not Forrest Gump's fault that people voted for it at the Oscars.
01:01 Let's talk about the framing story in general.
01:02 It never bothers you that he sits on the bench for the duration of this movie
01:06 and tells his entire life story to any stranger who sits down?
01:07 This is not a perfect movie!
01:09 I'm actually probably more angry at the number of things that that movie inspired,
01:12 like the "Run Forrest, Run" slogan, which is one of those scenes
01:16 where when it happens in a movie you just get like chills because it's so bad.
01:20 No, this is not Forrest's fault.
01:22 No, but that's a scene from the movie.
01:24 Yes, but this is the culture's fault of people getting obsessed
01:27 and overusing "Life is like a box of chocolates" and picking it up.
01:30 I guess they'll be mad at the movie for creating that type of stuff.
01:33 I think it's offensive.
01:34 Okay, wait, time out.
01:36 How is it offensive to what?
01:38 Offensive to idiots?
01:39 They're not getting offended and being like, "Oh, this resonates with me
01:42 because I'm also below average intelligence."
01:45 I like Forrest Gump because it's fun.
01:47 There are not enough movies that are made that are just fun to watch.
01:50 I do think that it's a poorly made film,
01:53 but I definitely think I'm more angry at it because of the amount of love that it gets.
01:56 And I think it's fair for me to say that Forrest Gump did not deserve to win Best Picture,
02:02 but it's a good movie and I'm going to continue watching it.
02:05 That's all I have to say about that.
02:06 By the way, shout out to SeedUp for providing these awesome shares
02:14 that we're sitting in for this debate.