rjnoe (07/23/82)
Last Friday I saw "The World According to Garp" at a sneak preview.
I've waited until today to post my review because the film opens
today, Friday, July 23.
"The World According to Garp" is an excellent film adaptation
of John Irving's best-selling novel of the same title. While the
film does not include all the details and incidents which made up
the novel, it retains the same character and is just as enjoyable
as the novel. The acting is good all around. Robin Williams puts
in his best performance ever as T.S. Garp. Do not come to the
picture expecting to see Williams, the comic genius, because Robin
does not do that here. Rather, he shines as a dramatic actor who
is able to bring out a special warmth in his character which makes
him impossible to dislike. The other performances are also up to
this level. Mary Beth Hurt plays Helen Holm, Garp's wife, and
Glenn Close plays Garp's mother, Jenny Fields. Particularly out-
standing is John Lithgow's role as Roberta Muldoon, for which he
may even be awarded an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor (or is it
Actress?).
The film was directed by George Roy Hill, who is long overdue
for a Best Director award. He is certain to be nominated this time.
Hill has a delightful cameo role as the pilot of a small plane.
John Irving himself has a cameo as the referee of a wrestling match.
Most striking of all is the way the screenplay was adapted from the
novel. Steve Tesich deserves the credit for this tremendous job
and, as difficult as adapting screenplays from another medium is,
he will very likely be recognized for this at the Academy Awards.
The only thing about this movie that isn't up to par is the timing.
As Gene Siskel has noted, summer is usually reserved for frivolous,
light movies, which certainly does not describe "Garp". Siskel has
given the film a rating of three and one half stars out of four.
I'd give it all four. The only thing some might find objectionable
at all is some full frontal nudity during the credits at the
beginning (though judging by the laughter, many people in the
theater, mostly females, found it amusing), some partial nudity
later on, quite a bit of candid adult dialogue and an occasional
foul word or two, which explains why it's rated R. Oh, yes, a little
violence, too. Nothing new to High School level young adults.
Roger Noe
ihuxl!rjnoejackson.pa@sri-unix (08/02/82)
Nano: 9.9, *****, best movie i have seen all summer Macro: An excellent adult film. Not in the sense of sex scenes, just that the humor requires the seasoning of a few years to be appreciated. Robin Williams is excellent as is the rest of the cast. Since the player's credits are at the beginning i am going to have to go see it again so i know who those people are. The film is about life, birth, death, and relationships between people. You won't find these people on TV, but you might meet them in the world. This IS a funny movie, but it is not a comedy; such is life. My only regret is that the movie wasn't at least twice as long. I was not ready for it to end when the credits appeared. ***********Slight Spoiler**************** ***********Slight Spoiler**************** ***********Slight Spoiler**************** ***********Slight Spoiler**************** ***********Slight Spoiler**************** ***********Slight Spoiler**************** ***********Slight Spoiler**************** ***********Slight Spoiler**************** My ever so slight dissatisfaction with Garp rests in the lack of character development for the twisted little girl who likes to watch. I suppose that this the the inevitable result of trying to compress a large book into a 2-1/2 hour movie. I would have gladly sat through another 2-1/2 hours, honest. stephen
dudek (08/05/82)
I agree that this was a very good movie. Having read the book several years ago, I found the film recaptured the spirit amazingly well. Sad and funny. So far, this has been my favorite movie of the summer.