The World According to Garp
Director: George Roy Hill
Year Released: 1982
Rating: 2.0
Less-than-stellar adaptation of John Irving's wildly over praised novel is little more than a string of inanities that is supposed to amount to satire but instead comes across as rancid cynicism constructed out of writing contrivances (in other words, all the loose ends are tied back perfectly but with little interest in logic). First half-hour is amusing as the young Garp learns about the world from neo-Feminist mom, but you can feel it slip when a miscast Robin Williams enters the picture and fall completely when it turns a rather dull eye to marital infidelity. The message is muddled as well - the link between suburbia and the chaos of modern life isn't made especially clear.
