Customer Reviews

World According to Garp [Import]

5 star:		(24)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I saw this movie by mistake when I was ten years old. I did not truely understand it. My parents didnt care because it featured Robin Williams, you know Mork. They had no idea of all the sexual content, bewilderment followed and 15 years later were almost forgotten, until I read the book in college. I felt affected by this movie then and when I viewed it recenly, the same feelings were conjured up. I highly recommend this film, its tragic, funny and at times you will laugh at times that seem very very inappropriate. The characters are rich and off-wall.

I think about ten percent of the book actually made it into the movie. Not sure why the filmmakers bothered. Glen Close, John Lithgow and Robin Williams all do fine with what very little they're given. Hence the 2 stars. Close's 1st role. No real reason to recommend this.

This is one of the best movies of all time. It's creativity and intelligence say a lot about the human race, even though often wayward, contains love in the places you least expect it to be.
Robin Williams is magnificent in this film. It is a little odd, but you leave the film with a lot of love and appreciation for the human race and a lot of sadness about the human race's shortcomings. The movie comes from a brilliant John Irving novel!

Jeffrey McAndrew
author of "Our Brown-Eyed Boy"

This is easily one of the 10 best comedy films of all time. Robin Williams showed us he was a great actor in his very first starring roll in a feature film. Glenn Close was fantastic and John Lithgow should have won an Acdemy Award for his performance. Unfortuneately, this film came out long before comedy films won any awards. It is definately a timeless piece that should be seen.

Robin Williams, John Lithgow and Glenn Close are all stars in their collective first major movie. Keeping close to the story by John Irving, T.S. Garp ("Terribly Sexy" he tells people) is born to Jenny Fields, a nurse who only has sex once with a soldier under her care in 1944, for the sole purpose of conceiving a child. (Witness the horror of her New England parents, played in the opening scene by Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy).

Garp lives a most unusual childhood, meeting his wife Helen as a teenager, and becoming a writer as an adult. His mother also becomes a writer, writing her memoir "A Sexual Suspect", and garnering legions of feminist fans, to whom she opens her home as a giant commune. Thus Roberta (John Lithgow in drag) enters their lives. She is a former professional linebacker and soon becomes close to Garp and his family.

Garp solely misses the father he never met as he muddles through his confusing complicated life as son, husband, father and man. This is a film for anyone who is a fan of Robin Williams. It is a forerunner to the slightly heartbroken and heartbreaking characters he immortalized in "Dead Poets Society", "Good Will Hunting", "What Dreams May Come" and "Being Human."

This movie was a disappointment. At first i thought it was because I had read the book first. But no. The story told in the movie was different enough that I didn't care for the way they put it together. It is hard to follow for those in my family that haven't read the book.

This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Robin Williams is such a great performer, and really gets to show his range in this one. I cry and fall off the couch laughing every time I watch it.

...I turn the final page of The World According to Garp by John Irving and reflect on how great a novel it was. How wonderfully it was written, how incredibly unusual and complex the characters were, and how much i understood them. Next, I sit down in front of my tv and watch the movie. To put it nicely, I am appalled at how horrible the movie is. The whole plot is distorted, major characters aren't even mentioned (Harrison and Alice), and the main characters (besides John Lithgow who was excellent as Roberta) aren't portrayed very well by the actors. I do acknowledge though, that the parts are extremely difficult to play and that the actors probably did the best they could. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this movie, ESPECIALLY to people you have read the book, which is absolutely fantastic. Now all of you, go read the book!

Never before have I viewed a movie with such imagination, heart, and extensive use of foreshadowing and irony. Watching "Garp" makes one realize how both beautiful and morally bankrupt our society is, and that we 'truly' reap what we sow. From feminism exploitation to marital infidelity to gender-alteration, we witness the undoing of the principal characters through acts of selfishness, greed, and sheer loneliness.

This movie, however, will not appeal to the typical moviegoer, but rather to one who enjoys volatile, politically incorrect subject matter from a psychological perspective. "Garp" toys with your mind, soul, and heart from beginning to end, and its twisted humor remains as gripping as its dreadful tragedies.

Indeed, "Garp" is not for the faint of heart, but ironically, "heart" is what the movie ultimately delivers.

The film version did not do any justice to the original work by John Irving. Now I know why his novels are so Dickensian, full of details; they are important, they enrich the world of fiction which is mere piles of pages otherwise. // The movie is faithful to the novel, I admit, but didn't have any feel that I absorbed from the book. The film captured the essence, but what is it good for if it didn't come with something that touches, moves and cause pain to your heart? It was a terrible loss at the expence of great actors, and insult to the author and readers. The plot will seem discontinuous and unnatural if you don't know the book, and if you know the book, it's a huge disappointment. // Adaptation of books to films are very often more or less disappointing to anyone who bothers with checking on both, but this one was the worst. The film versin of "Cider House Rules" also by John Irving, which captured only a half or less of the original was fairly decent, but this one, no, if you have already read the book, don't even think about buying or renting this film. You'll be so upset after watching that you'll wake up in a foul mood on the next morning.