27/29
Includes Toast of the Town (1948)
Story
A generational story about families and the special place they call home, sharing love, loss, laughter and life. Based on the comic strip “Here” by Richard McGuire. It was first published as a comic strip in the comic magazine “Raw” in 1989, and was expanded into a 300-page graphic novel in 2014. [trailer clip] Richard: You know, if you wanted to, you could spend the rest of the night here. Margaret: I could spend the rest of my life here. Greetings again from the darkness. I may be in the minority on this, but it’s inconceivable to think that I’m alone in my impression of a film billed as a reunion of the director, writer, stars and crew of FORREST GUMP.
A long time
I found this to be one of the most irritating and boring movies to watch in a long time. Sure, I’m sure it’s possible to make a decent movie with no plot and little story, and no interesting characters… but that’s not the case. Without wanting to poison the water for potential viewers, I’ll just summarize the process. The premise is to place a camera in a location, and then progress through the story. Starting with dinosaurs running around like crazy, the devastating flood, Mother Nature reclaiming the land, Native Americans living their lives, Benjamin Franklin’s illegitimate son building a huge house, and finally our specific house being built in a newly established neighborhood. We then see the families that occupy the house over the years.
Regardless, life happens
When I say the camera stays in one place, that’s exactly what I mean. It’s as if it never moves as dinosaurs scamper and Franklin’s house is built and finally the bay window of that house offers a static view of the living room. Very little excitement happens in that living room. Most of the time, it’s just the same family stuff you probably experience: love, marriage, birth, death, illness, arguments, heartbreak. Although there are other inhabitants, the house is inhabited for most of the years by the Young family, starting with Army veteran Al Young (Paul Bettany) who has just returned from the war and his wife Rose (Kelly Riley). One of their children is aspiring artist Richard (played as a teenager, adult and senior by Oscar winner Tom Hanks). He marries his high school sweetheart Margaret (Robin Wright), who hopes to become a lawyer.
It all reminds me of Mr
and keeps happening, as overlapping frames are used to move us from one time period to another, both forward and backward. 2024 is the 40th anniversary of the Oscar-winning film, FORREST GUMP. The “Gump” reunion for this film includes writer-director Robert Zemekis, co-writer Eric Roth, lead actors Tom Hanks and Robin Wright, cinematographer Don Burgess, composer Alan Silvestri, sound designer Randy Thom, and costume designer Joanna Johnston. Adapted from Richard McGuire’s 2014 graphic novel, the film bears little resemblance to the classic film this team previously worked on (winning 6 Oscars and 13 nominations). For all the flak Martin Scorsese received for using the rejuvenation process in THE IRISHMAN (2019), this one takes it to a whole new level, with Hanks and Wright as both teenagers and old people. Potter’s line in It’s a Wonderful Life: “sentimental bullshit.” Add in the generic dialogue and bland characters. The exception to the latter is the intimate relationship between David Flynn and Ophelia Lovibond, as his character’s inspired engineering leads to romantic moments for the couple.
Theatrical release November 1, 2024
To put it bluntly, there’s simply no story here. Are we supposed to care about this land? The house? Its inhabitants? Or is this just a slow reminder that life goes on… so get on with living or dying (yes, a quote from SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION helps me recover from a disappointing movie experience).
