Forrest Gump & Stupid Me

We’re still waiting for some of our regular tv programs to renew themselves and so many of the ones other people are now watching are either on one of the premium channels like HBO or are shows that for one reason or another don’t appeal to us. We quit watching Bates Motel because it got too stupid, and Legends seemed more complicated than we wanted to unravel, and too many of the well-reviewed shows feel obligated to have their characters sort of mumble their lines. This last complaint explains why we like shows that give us uncomplicated plots, likeable characters, and dialogue that doesn’t sound like hissing snakes: Blue Bloods, Rizzoli and Isles, CSI Las Vegas, Major Crimes, The Mentalist, and Perception. You’ll notice the lack of comedies on that list, despite the fact that there are quite a few critically acclaimed shows like Modern Family and New Girl. Other than The Big Bang Theory, which we watch faithfully, even in countless reruns, we never got started with any others and are too lazy to jump into them in mid-stream. Just nothing on last night, so we watched a NetFlix oldie, Tom Hanks doing his thing in Forrest Gump.

We’d seen it when it first came out in 1994 but had forgotten most of what we’d seen way back then. At our age, twenty years can blank out most of what we remember in life as well as in movies. It was an enjoyable way to spend two and a half hours. We could see why it won best picture of that year and why Hanks won best actor. I was going to say all the usual platitudes about this film, but then I went on line to find what others may have said, and I found an outrageous, hilarious, insightful review that made me feel like a simplistic bumpkin. For nearly five years I’ve felt like I was writing a clever, useful blog with movie and book reviews, personal observations, comments on local, national, or world affairs. But now Lindy West has put me in my proper place, right alongside Forrest sitting on that bench waiting for a bus to take him back to his one love, Jenny.

I’m not “izackly stoopid,” but after reading what Lindy West said, that’s how I feel. If you’d like to read her review, click on this link: "Run, Forrest, Run!"