Big Bore and I sniffled through Forrest Gump for the umpteenth time last night. At the conclusion I told him, "This is one movie that is soooooo much better than the book." Of course, he wanted to know why.
To borrow a bit from poetess Elizabeth Barrett Browning: How do I hate this book? Let me count the ways.
"Well, you know how sweet and endearing and heroic Forrest is in the movie? In the book he's this big, loudmouth lug who is constantly spewing profanity. He ditches Jenny in favor of a pro wrestling career and she marries someone else. He stars in a movie with Raquel Welch. He becomes an astronaut, along with an orangutan (that is his best friend), and the space capsule crashes in New Guinea and they become captives of pygmies."
"What?!" BB said, incredulously.
"Oh, and the only running he does is for the Senate, using the campaign slogan, 'I Gotta Pee.' It's just a total mess."
When writers won a Motion Picture Academy Award for Best Screen Adaption, they earned their paycheck with this one. About the only thing the book and movie have in common is the name of the title character.
A book is a lot like a box of chocolates. You never know what's inside until you open it up and dig into the pages. And in the case of Forrest Gump, the book, this one is as stupid as stupid can get. I rarely say this, but skip the book and see the movie.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
And that's all I've got to say about that.
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