Forrest Gump is the 64th episode of Screen Junkies comedy series Honest Trailers. It was written by Spencer Gilbert, Gilli Nissim, Dan Murrell, Jason Mathews and Andy Signore. It was narrated by Jon Bailey as Epic Voice Guy. It parodies the 1994 American romantic-drama film Forrest Gump. It was published on June 24, 2014, to coincide with the film's 20th anniversary. It is 4 minutes 10 seconds long. It has been viewed over 10 million times.
Watch Honest Trailers - Forrest Gump on YouTube
"Experience the epic love story between this damaged woman, and the mentally challenged war hero she manipulates." ~ Honest Trailers - Forrest Gump
Script[]
From Robert Zemeckis, the director of some of your favorite movies (plays clips from Back to the Future and Who Framed Roger Rabbit), and lots of creepy animation (plays clips from The Polar Express and A Christmas Carol (2009)), comes the 20th anniversary of the film that spawned a thousand folksy catchphrases...
Forrest: --life was like a box of chocolates.
...and one really disgusting seafood restaurant. (shows the logo for the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company)
Forrest Gump
Relive the heartwarming tale of Forrest, a simpleton who bombards complete strangers with his entire life story...
Forrest: I've worn lots of shoes.
...and Jenny, a suicidal junkie hobo; experience the epic love story between this damaged woman, and the mentally challenged war hero she manipulates, whether it's sending mixed messages...
Jenny: (to Forrest) I'll always be your girl. / Forrest, you stay away from me, okay? You just stay away from me, please.
...hitting it and quitting it, or hiding his own child from him for five years until she has full-blown AIDS and has nowhere else to go.
Forrest: (narrating) Jenny came back and stayed with me. Maybe it was because she had nowhere else to go.
Together, their one-sided relationship will serve as CliffsNotes to 40 years of whitewashed American history, utilizing brilliant visual effects (shows Dan turning his amputated body around), and terrible overdubbing.
Overdubbed John F. Kennedy: Congratulations. How do you feel?
Overdubbed Lyndon B. Johnson: Well, that must be a sight.
Overdubbed Richard Nixon: I'll have my people take care of it for you.
Overdubbed John Lennon: Well, it's easy if you try, Dick.
Witness Forrest become a star college football player, win the Medal of Honor, play world-class ping-pong in Communist China, start a cross-country running cult, and build a multi-million-dollar seafood empire, yet still never get recognized...
Fat Man at Bench: Are you telling me you're the owner of the Bubba Gump Shrimp Corporation?
Forrest: Yes.
...not even by the news.
Charles Cooper: (on a TV) --Forrest Gump, the gardener from Greenbow, Alabama, is about to cross the Mississippi River again today.
Follow along with a handful of human clichés, that help Forrest along his way, like... the strong-willed single mother (Mrs. Gump), the dumb Southerner (Bubba), and the Vietnam vet with a chip on his shoulder (Dan), who teach us all that you can succeed in America if you're dumb enough to blindly do whatever other people tell you to do.
Football Player: Run!
Forrest: Okay! (runs off)
Jenny: --don't try to be brave. You just run...
Forrest: Okay.
Bubba: How would you like to go into the shrimping business with me?
Forrest: Okay.
Veteran at War Rally: Hey, you're a good man for doing this. Good.
Forrest: Okay.
Dan: --thought I'd try out my sea legs.
Forrest: Okay. (shakes Dan's hand)
Dan: That's where we're going to find those shrimp, my boy!
Forrest: Okay!
So lace up your Nikes and pop open a Dr Pepper, to revisit all the classic Gump stuff, like... feathers (shows Forrest holding a feather that landed next to him), shrimp...
Bubba: (as he and Forrest scrub the barracks floor) --shrimp soup, shrimp stew, shrimp salad...
...dead celebrities...
Forrest: (narrating as a video of John Lennon fades to static) --somebody shot him. / (over a video of John F. Kennedy) --somebody shot that nice young president... / (over a video of Robert F. Kennedy) --somebody shot his little brother, too...
...boxes of chocolate....
Forrest: (to Jenny) I ate some.
..."Jen-nay"...
Forrest: Jenny!
..."Lieutenant Dan"...
Forrest: (holding out an ice cream cone) Lieutenant Dan, ice cream!
...Lieutenant Dan with legs, Lieutenant Dan without legs...
Forrest: --you ain't got no legs, Lieutenant Dan.
...things Mama said...
Forrest: Mama said they'd take me anywhere.
...this moment you probably didn't understand as a kid...
Forrest: (after Jenny grabs his hand to touch her bare breasts) Oh... Oh... Oh, I'm sorry.
Jenny: It's okay.
Forrest: Sorry.
...and lots and lots of running.
Jenny: Run, Forrest, run!
(montage of Forrest running)
Starring: Young Claire Underwood (Robin Wright as Jenny Curran); Bubba Booey (Mykelti Williamson as Benjamin Buford "Bubba" Blue); Sally Field Now (Sally Field as Mrs. Gump); Gary's Niece (Gary Sinise as Lieutenant Dan Taylor); I See Dumb People (Haley Joel Osment as Forrest Gump Jr.); and Usain Dolt (Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump).
Forrest Gump
Dan: (to Forrest) If you're ever a shrimp boat captain... that's the day I'm an astronaut!
And Lieutenant Dan kept his word. (shows Tom Hanks as Jim Lovell and Gary Sinise as Ken Mattingly in Apollo 13) The end.
Trivia[]
- Screen Junkies have produced Honest Trailers for several other drama films including The Revenant, Boyhood, Gladiator, Titanic and The Social Network. Screen Junkies also regularly put out Honest Trailers for Academy Award Nominated films, for example, Oscars 2016, Oscars 2017, Oscars 2018 and Oscars 2019. See list of Honest Trailers for more.
- An Honest Trailer Commentary for this episode was recorded and was available on the Screen Junkies Plus until the website/app was discontinued. Screen Junkies don't currently have any way of releasing the video.
Reception[]
Honest Trailers - Forrest Gump has a 98.0% approval rating from YouTube viewers. The Huffington Post remarked that the Honest Trailer revealed the "devastating truth" of Forrest Gump. BroBible also found the Honest Trailer for making them see the film in a new light, after seeing the trailer they realized "Forrest Gump is an absolutely deranged piece of cinema." CinemaBlend said Screen Junkies made "solid - albeit snarky -criticisms" about flaws in the film's logic and its weird love story.
Production credits[]
Video thumbnail for Honest Trailers - Forrest Gump
Voiceover Narration by Jon Bailey
Series Created by Andy Signore & Brett Weiner
Written by Spencer Gilbert, Gilli Nissim, Dan Murrell, Jason Mathews, and Andy Signore
Edited by Dan Murrell
External links[]
- Life Is Like What? Forrest Gump Gets an Honest Trailer 20 Years Later - People article
- An Honest Trailer For 'Forrest Gump' Tells The Devastating Truth Of An American Classic - The Huffington Post article
- The Honest Trailer for ‘Forrest Gump’ Will Make You Realize It’s Actually An Insane Movie - BroBible article
- The Honest Trailer For Forrest Gump: It’s Weirder Than You Remember - Uproxx article
- Can Your Love For Forrest Gump Withstand Its Honest Trailer? - CinemaBlend article
- Honest Trailer for FORREST GUMP - Geek Tyrant article