6. Best Actor, Tie: Dustin
Hoffman, "Rain Man," 1989; Tom Hanks, "Forrest Gump," 1995 I love Hoffman and I love
Hanks. When either one is at his best, he's among the most powerful, versatile,
compulsively watchable actors of all time. But let's get serious about why they
... morewere rewarded for these towering monuments of cinematic embarrassment. Funny --
cartoonishly funny -- voices for characters with mental difficulties (one an
autistic savant, the other a kind of all-purpose dumb-ass), sustained for a
whole movie until the sheer ridiculousness of the insulting vocalizations
somehow became an asset to the -- let's face it -- miserably bad films they
anchored. "Rain Man" is deep schmaltz about a yuppie (Tom Cruise) who kinda, sorta learns to love. "Forrest
Gump" is far worse: a Republican fantasia that says promiscuous women deserve
AIDS, political involvement leads to death and dismemberment, and the best
strategy for happiness in life is never to think deeply about anything ever.
Hoffman was lovable, it's true, but cloying. Hanks was so much worse that
cloying, because you never lost sight of the hokey strings he was pulling. Gross
on both counts -- and beneath both actors' dignity. Don't tell Oscar, though.
(United Artists/ Courtesy Everett Collection) Close
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