Mrs. Doubtfire

Robin Williams is looking for a hit and a lot of people think he’s found one in Mrs. Doubtfire. After all, look at all the stuff in it that’s been looted from previously successful movies: the quarreling parents fighting for custody from Kramer Vs. Kramer; dad acting like the dreamy, half-baked idealist in The Fisher King; exploring new ways to teach kids, just like in Dead Poets Society; and, to top it off, Williams tackles the drag bit that Dustin Hoffman did in Tootsie.

Does this sound like a sure-fire crowd-pleaser, or what? Well, guess again. Maybe next time they’ll get it right.

Williams plays a barely working actor who blows his voice-over job in cartoons because he believes the cartoon characters are bad role models for kids. Then he turns around and almost starts a riot for his son’s birthday party. His long-suffering wife (Sally Fields) decides that she’s finally had enough and throws him out of the house.

After all, Fields is busy with a successful interior decorating business, and she’s taken on all of the responsibility of supporting the family. She resents Williams’ total lack of responsibility, so she files for divorce and wins custody of their three kids.

Rarely allowed to see his children, Williams decides to take advantage of Fields’ need for a housekeeper. Williams disguises himself as a frumpy, but proper, British widow and land the job.

He does so just in time. A very wealthy – and very available – former flame of Fields has resurfaced, played by Pierce Brosnan (who still talks as if his tongue were glued to the roof of his mouth). He has a house that he wants Fields to redesign. Speaking of designs, he obviously has designs for Fields. Most of all, Brosnan wants to play James Bond so badly that it hurts him just to think about it. (This has nothing to do with the plot of Mrs. Doubtfire, but Brosnan keeps trying to get the part and bitching when he doesn’t.)

Mrs. Doubtfire may click as one of the big hits of the holiday season, but it’s slow and lackluster comedy. Williams has his moments, but they occur only during the brief scenes when he’s allowed to cut loose and wing it. Most of the time, his character is just plain annoying. He’s supposed to be cute and lovable, but he comes off as childish and obnoxious.

No wonder Fields wants a divorce. It must be like living with Burt all over again.

Forrest Gump

Tom Hanks spends most of Forrest Gump sitting on a bus stop bench in Savannah, Georgia, spinning out the strange tale of his life to anyone who happens to pass by. It's a narrative device as lightweight as the floating feather that opens and closes the film, but the movie is a substantial — and very off-beat — journey through 30 years of American history. It's also a surprisingly effective and sentimental odyssey, as Hanks' character stumbles through a life that's an odd combo of destiny and luck.

Forrest Gump is born with strong legs, a bad back and an IQ that's considered slight­ly below normal, even in his home state of Alabama. The only thing he has in his favor is a mother (Sally Field) who's determined to do anything to get him into a proper school. Well, that and his own blank-faced sense of self-confidence, which is firmly rooted in an ability to quietly accept anything that hap­pens. All of Gump's life turns into an acci­dental success story, as he inadvertently becomes a football star, a war hero, a lead­ing speaker for the peace movement and a millionaire.

Despite rising to such pinnacles, the only thing Gump wants is to be married to his childhood sweetie (Robin Wright), even though he sees her only once a decade. His phenomenal luck with history doesn't do him any good where his heart is concerned, so Gump wanders through most of the major social events of the '60s in search of his fiancee.

Forrest Gump is an exceedingly weird movie, and it walks a dangerously thin line between grim farce and warped melodrama. But it works — albeit it in a strange way — by presenting a baby boomer guide to mod­ern history. The icons of the age make their dutiful appearance as Gump naively cruises in and out of celebrities' lives. He teaches Elvis how to dance, trades barbs with John Lennon, innocently moons Lyndon Johnson and helps to set Richard Nixon on the road to impeachment. But the only thing that registers in Gump's mind as he retells the stories is that most of the famous people he knew were "shot by some guy."

Forrest Gump is blessed with a superb performance by Hanks. After his dramatic success in Philadelphia, Hanks appears deter­mined to hold onto his new status as a seri­ous actor; certainly he's one of the few "stars" who could pull off such a quirky lead role.

Robert Zemeckis' unexpectedly intelli­gent direction is the real surprise in Forrest Gump. Best known for the Back to the Future trilogy and Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the filmmaker has rarely displayed the emotion­al skill or personal touches that run through Forrest Gump so strongly. It's as if he's been sitting on his own talent for years, and final­ly is cutting loose with a masterful and touching production.