Forrest Gump is JUMBO Tears!

That line that Jenny says to Forrest about him not knowing what love is, is especially powerful when you realize that it's Jenny who has no idea what love really is because she's never experienced it, except from Forrest, but she can't recognize it. Powerful and sad moment.

The older I get the more I think this is the best film ever made. "Is he smart or..." destroys me every time.

A viewer from another reaction channel said something that struck a chord with me. Jenny always told Forrest to run. That served him very well during the movie, but for Jenny herself running was her way of coping from the damage she endured as a child. Jenny never saw herself as good enough to deserve someone as good as Forrest. She just jumped from one unhealthy relationship to another. She needed to stop running before she could get better.

The "Is he smart or is he like me" moment is a bombshell, and is the best moment of the movie for me. It shows the audience that Forrest was actually aware of his "limitations" the entire time. When Jenny would leave, or when people would call him stupid, he knew. The audience sees him go from an almost comedic figure with little to no self awareness to a real, vulnerable person who is all too aware of the things that held him back, and only wants best for his child.

You seriously put up suicide hotline numbers during the balcony scene. That is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen on YouTube. You are an absolute hero for that. So much respect and I can’t help but think of those you helped by that simple gesture.

What i find most tragic about Lieutenant Dan is that he planned to die in the war. So he likely never planned on having a future. He likely didnt have any money or savings, or kept too many friends around, or thought about having a family. So not only did he come back injured but he also had no support to fall back on when he came back. Thats why i think he was so angry with Forrest, it wasnt so much that he didn't get to die with honor but that he had nothing to come back to and his life was ruined

When Forrest goes for the "little run" across the country, it reminds me of Neil Peart, the drummer and lyricist from the band Rush. In the late 90s, he lost his daughter to a car wreck and then his wife to cancer within a span of a few months. At his wife's funeral, he told his bandmates, "Consider me retired". As part of his grieving process and just feeling lost, he got on his motorcycle and rode all up and down the North American continent and Central America. By the time he finally came home, he called up his bandmates and said he was ready to come back. He also met his future wife. He wrote a book about it, titled "Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road".

94 was such an amazing year for movies... The Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, and this masterpiece

I can't say I've ever watched someone be heartbroken for 53 straight minutes. I appreciate you leaving in your real emotions. 👊🏼

Jenny mentions becoming a bird to fly away. Two nice touches was the birds at her gravesite(which was not planned, it just happened and they left it in) and the feather. Notice it first comes to him as he is about to finally get Jenny to settle down with him and it leaves after she has moved on to the afterlife. Another nice Easter egg of sorts was Lt Dan(Gary Sinese) saying if Gumo became a shrimp boat captain, that was the day he becomes an astronaut, then later he describes his prosthetic legs as being like they use on the space shuttle. The very next movie for both Tom Hanks and Gary Sinese came out the next year, where the two of them both play astronauts, in the true story of "Apollo 13".

Loved your reaction! Jenny is one of the best and most complex (and thus misunderstood) characters in modern film history. She never thought she was too good for him. She always thought exactly the opposite. She had known him all their lives and knew how good of a person he was and how pure his heart was, and she knew how broken and messed up she was. Her advice was always what she followed herself. She ran, but not to protect herself. She ran from him to protect him from her life and her chaos. If you notice, every time she leaves him as adults, it's after a confrontation he gets in because of her. Except the final time she leaves. She leaves to get her life in order the final time once shes detoxed to be worthy of his love and return it - this is why the line "I'm not running" is so important. Its directly opposite to what she's been saying and doing all movie, and signals that she's finally ready to heal. It wasn't until she was able to settle her own life down enough to truly heal for him that she could be with him. She always loved him, so much so that she knew she had to protect him over how she cared about him. He was always protecting her, but she was protecting him right back. A couple other points - The disease Jenny contracts is never officially named in the movie. Everyone thinks it's HIV because it was so prevalent in the 80's and that's what everyone remembers now 40 years later, but the book that the movie is based on, the author has stated he intended it to be Hepatitis C. Which makes even more sense as to why Forrest nor Forrest Jr contracted it from her because Hep C transmission likelihood is possible but low probability due to sexual intercourse or from mother to child. Hep C wasn't officially "discovered" until 1989 but had been killing people for several decades that doctors knew about but didn't know what it was. Which is why she says they knew it was SOMETHING but they "don't know what it is" and they had no way to treat it. 1981 fits that they would be able to tell she was sick but not know how to treat it. Lastly, the overall message of the movie is unconditional love and how it changes the life arc not of Forrest - he's the same steady, good person throughout - but of his mom, Lt Dan & Bubba (and by extension Bubba's family due to his early death) and of course Jenny. Jenny and Lt Dan are the most significant of course. Imagine these characters lives had they never met Forrest. Every single one of them were "saved" in one way or another, simply by having someone in their life that loved them unconditionally. There's an argument to be made than Jenny is suicidal pretty early into the movie (do you think I could fly off this bridge?) And would have probably died much younger if not for the only positive example of love in her life she ever had. Dan would have died in battle as he wanted yes, but he never would have found what he had by the end of the movie. Bubba was already a good person and he was "saved" quite literally from an airstrike that would have incinerated him and made his dying wish (to go home) impossible. Forrest going to get him allowed him to go home and at least be buried with his family. And as for his mother, I don't think it's hard to imagine the way a single mother of a disabled child was looked at by society, esp in the south in the 1950's/early 60s. So she lucked out having just about the best child you could ask for if she was going to have to be a single mother.

Jenny saved Forrest when they were kids, she gave him her friendship and protection, that is why Forrest always wanted to protect her.

FINALLY! A reactor who got the joke about the lyrics to 'Imagine' with John Lennon on the Dick Cavett Show! Well done you :) A wonderful piece of poetic license. And you picked up Watergate instantly too. In fact, you pretty much nailed everything; you're very perceptive, and your reaction marks you as a very sweet person. I enjoyed your reaction a great deal - thank you.🌹

This movie is such a masterpiece. That moment where Forrest asks if his son is smart or not, terrified he inherited something from him, is such an amazing piece of acting from Hanks. That scene hits me like a ton of bricks, though a lot of scenes in this movie hit hard in such beautiful and masterful ways. Love your channel and how authentic and heartfelt your reactions are ❤. Gotta go find some tissues now 😂

After I watched this movie I looked up what forest’s speech was at Washington DC, and it was heart wrenching😭😭: "Sometimes when people go to Vietnam they go home to their Mamas without any legs. Sometimes they don't go home at all, that's a bad thing. That's all I have to say about that."

You have a kind heart. Me and my wife loved this movie. She passed away suddenly 4 years ago. When I see him say "I miss you Jenny" I think of her and her name in Jenny's place. Cant watch the movie any longer. One of the very best movies ever made and always will be. You're a beautiful girl with a compassionate soul. Made me sad to see you sad. Best to you. Great reaction.

This might be the BEST reaction to this movie on YouTube. You had me crying at my favorite parts too and I've seen this movie too many times to count.

When Jenny said that Forrest didn't know what love is, it was because he just said he loved her, and she didn't think anyone, at least not someone as pure as Forrest could actually love her, so he must know know what love is when he said it. She didn't think she was too good for him, but that he was too good for her.

The older we get, the harder this hit!!! I luv your real reactions, Thank you for doing these for us!!

25:04 One of the best speeches in a movie, and we never got to hear it. He says: "Sometimes when people go to Vietnam, they go home to their mommas without any legs. Sometimes they don't go home at all. That's a bad thing. That's all I have to say about that."