A dark and driven work, haunted by violence, cruelty and a sense of the tragically absurd.So afraid to dredge up debate that when Forrest is handed a mic at an antiwar rally, someone unplugs the speakers so we can't hear him -- fitting for a movie with nothing to say.It might hit you right in the feels, even as your eyes are rolling. To quote one of Forrest's truest pieces of wisdom: Maybe both is happening at the same time.It remains a bad movie that gets worse with age.I can't see how people with low I.Q.s or those who love them are in any way comforted by all this hogwash. I can easily see how such people might be offended by its smug unreality.Contrasting Forrest's unassuming innocence with the upheavals and rancor of the times, the film is a wisely goofy commentary on the stupidity of smartness.Forrest Gump, the new Tom Hanks movie directed by Robert Zemeckis, is a one-of-a-kind treat. Larky, yet carefully balanced and far from mindlessly upbeat.A weirder, darker, and better movie than its reputation suggests.It's most successful when it is being off-center, a state of grace it doesn't quite have the nerve to maintain.Hanks never strikes a false note, never panders to his mentally slow character nor tries to make him more than he is, despite a script that occasionally calls on him to utter what presumably are intended to be simple profundities.Zemeckis has made a fast movie about a slow hero; he transforms Forrest's daffy misconceptions into lyrical flights. Forrest Gump has a softer, more delicate touch and a richer current of feeling than any of the other holy-innocent movies.It turns tedious toward the end... But when it's good, it's very good, and the way it blends star Tom Hanks, who plays the title character, into actual historical film footage will tickle you to no end.Hanks' immersion in character and his convincing interaction with fellow players make Forrest Gump -- gimmicks and all -- a pleasure.Far more impressive than Zemeckis' techno-sleight-of-hand is the steadying integrity of Hanks' portrayal. His Southern-fried Holy Fool brings the movie into focus, giving it a heart to make up for its lack of brains.Hanks' performance [is] a triumph of dignity, decency, and warm-hearted humor... Even more than his Oscar-winning achievement in Philadelphia, this is a role that will be remembered as long as people care about great acting.By turns silly and sensitive, romantic and ridiculous, schmaltzy and sincere, this biography of a fictional character is entertaining and touching.The best art takes the biggest chances, thereby losing people who can't stretch with it. Forrest Gump is worth the effort.There's an undeniable kick to the idea of recapitulating to the Boomerography as a tale told by an idiot, but the thrill inexorably fades.Forrest Gump manages to examine some of the basic questions of human life and to add perspective to the two most disruptive decades in modern history.This isn't the meaningful movie it pretends to be. But as a goofy entertainment that speeds through the latter half of the 20th century, stopping here and there to snap a photo or two, Forrest Gump does just fine.