WARNING! SPOILERS AHEAD!
Is the new rule of movie-making that as long as you give your character a physical disability, he immediately becomes likeable, and the movie becomes a "heartfelt classic"? It must be, because so many people have given this movie such high reviews. I found it utterly boring with pathetic characterization.
Here are my main complaints:
First off, they kept the mother for far too long in the story. When she got Alzheimers, they used about twenty minutes of the film moving her from nursing home to back home to an assisted living facility, to the hospital...and none of these changes seemed to affect Porter at all.
When she finally died, the only thing that affected Porter was when he was trying to make a sale, he looked at a baby and couldn't go on. What was the deal with that? Were they trying to make some comment on the frailty of life? It didn't register with me.
Throughout the movie, the constant theme was Porter coping with his disease. Yes, we realize that he has cerebral palsy, so what? Do something with the character! Does he have feelings? I sure hope so, but the filmmakers didn't put any of that in the movie. Okay, he reacts violently to being called stupid, but other than that, he's just the little salesman that could. And the love story is disgustingly contrived. He seems to have a five minute attraction to Shelly, then just lets it go.
They obviously are trying to paint a picture of all the lives Porter touched through his route, but it only comes out as a jumbled mess. About the woman who bought the packages even though she didn't use them: What are they trying to say? Did she have an attraction to Porter? Did she just not have any friends and was desperate for someone to talk to? Was she trying to seduce him? Or did she just want to show some kindness to a "cripple"? The movie leaves all these questions hanging, and, frankly, I didn't care.
And Porter makes so many stupid choices, I wanted him to fail. He walks out in front of a bus. Okay, that was an error on his part, but pedestrians do have the right-of-way. But, in an attempt at nobility, he decides not to settle with the bus company, even just for expenses encountered. Why? The movie didn't show before that he had this sense of morality. Was it something that got put into his head at the hospital?
Porter finally gets redeemed at the end, by being the subject of a story in the local paper. But he did nothing to achieve this! In fact, he opposed it! He's almost an anti-hero, but the movie plays it up like it wants us to feel sorry for him when he's making the stupid choices in the first place!
The one shining light among all this darkness is Macy's portraial of Porter. He did an excellent job of diving into his character. He will probably win an Emmy for it, and I don't mind that. But this one part of this movie is a beacon in a land full of fog.
Forest Gump or I Am Sam it definetly ain't.
4/10
Is the new rule of movie-making that as long as you give your character a physical disability, he immediately becomes likeable, and the movie becomes a "heartfelt classic"? It must be, because so many people have given this movie such high reviews. I found it utterly boring with pathetic characterization.
Here are my main complaints:
First off, they kept the mother for far too long in the story. When she got Alzheimers, they used about twenty minutes of the film moving her from nursing home to back home to an assisted living facility, to the hospital...and none of these changes seemed to affect Porter at all.
When she finally died, the only thing that affected Porter was when he was trying to make a sale, he looked at a baby and couldn't go on. What was the deal with that? Were they trying to make some comment on the frailty of life? It didn't register with me.
Throughout the movie, the constant theme was Porter coping with his disease. Yes, we realize that he has cerebral palsy, so what? Do something with the character! Does he have feelings? I sure hope so, but the filmmakers didn't put any of that in the movie. Okay, he reacts violently to being called stupid, but other than that, he's just the little salesman that could. And the love story is disgustingly contrived. He seems to have a five minute attraction to Shelly, then just lets it go.
They obviously are trying to paint a picture of all the lives Porter touched through his route, but it only comes out as a jumbled mess. About the woman who bought the packages even though she didn't use them: What are they trying to say? Did she have an attraction to Porter? Did she just not have any friends and was desperate for someone to talk to? Was she trying to seduce him? Or did she just want to show some kindness to a "cripple"? The movie leaves all these questions hanging, and, frankly, I didn't care.
And Porter makes so many stupid choices, I wanted him to fail. He walks out in front of a bus. Okay, that was an error on his part, but pedestrians do have the right-of-way. But, in an attempt at nobility, he decides not to settle with the bus company, even just for expenses encountered. Why? The movie didn't show before that he had this sense of morality. Was it something that got put into his head at the hospital?
Porter finally gets redeemed at the end, by being the subject of a story in the local paper. But he did nothing to achieve this! In fact, he opposed it! He's almost an anti-hero, but the movie plays it up like it wants us to feel sorry for him when he's making the stupid choices in the first place!
The one shining light among all this darkness is Macy's portraial of Porter. He did an excellent job of diving into his character. He will probably win an Emmy for it, and I don't mind that. But this one part of this movie is a beacon in a land full of fog.
Forest Gump or I Am Sam it definetly ain't.
4/10