The World According to Garp

Starring:Nathan Babcock, Warren Berlinger, Susan Browning, Glenn Close, Hume Cronyn, Brenda Currin, George Ede, Peter Michael Goetz, Mary Beth Hurt, Swoosie Kurtz, John Lithgow, Ian MacGregor, Brandon Maggart, James McCall, Jillian Ross, Mark Soper, Jessica Tandy, Robin Williams, Jenny Wright
Studio: Warner Home Video
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com essential video

Aside from being a warmly enjoyable movie, and the best screen adaptation of any John Irving novel, The World According to Garp features several young actors who went on to be among the best in the business. Oscar nominee John Lithgow is the sweetest transsexual ex-pro football player you'd ever hope to meet; Oscar nominee Glenn Close is a sensible, utterly sexless nurse and mother; Amanda Plummer is a mute crime victim; Mary Beth Hurt is a schoolgirl turned wife and mother, the love of T.S. Garp's life and the personification of the idea of Home. And Robin Williams, in his first starring role, has never been better cast--in the role of a human being, that is. This most unusual life story--written by Steve Tesich (Breaking Away) and directed by George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid)--perfectly captures the tragi-comic, absurdist/humanist worldview of Irving's novel. The opening credits, with a wide-eyed baby floating about the screen to the tune of the Beatles' "When I'm Sixty-Four," sums up the movie's scope and tone. After watching The World According to Garp, you may find yourself marveling anew at the world around you, a strange and wonderful place indeed. --Jim Emerson

Description

In this splendid film adaption of John Irving's bestseller, Robin Williams plays the role of T.S. Garp, a complex and unpredictable writer at odds with a violent and cruel world. "The World According to Garp" earned two Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actor, John Lithgow, and Best Supporting Actress, Glenn Close.

Customer Reviews:

Read the book instead.......2007-04-22

"The World According to Garp" is on my top 5 list of favorite books of all time. It's one of those rare books that makes you laugh out loud, but still really feel the emotion of the characters, and the story really sticks with you. (I made a joke about an Ellen Jamesian just the other day, lol ~ yes, it was a dumb joke that no one else got, but, that's how it goes sometimes :) I was introduced to the book in college, well after the book and the movie were released, but I had never heard of either one. I read the book in just a couple of days ~ I couldn't put it down, and I chatted it up with everyone who would listen. I've re-read it several times since then, and i still think it's terrific. Naturally, when i found out there was already a movie . . . I was thrilled! I ordered it right away . . . but i wish i'd never wasted my money. On it's own, the movie might be alirght. But when you're invested in the book, when you know the characters, Robin Williams just isn't Garp. I love Robin Williams, he's a great comedian, that's not a question. I just think that the casting for this part was way off base. and if you can't believe the main character, the rest of it's crap. If you've never read the book, I highly recommend it!!

In the top 10.......2007-02-09

This movie is one of my top 10 favorites. If you have ever read any of John Irving's books then you will love this film. Although it doesn't compare to the book it is a great film full of lust, comedy, tragedy, well-developed characters, and great acting. It portrays sex in a very real light.

Great acting.......2007-01-11

I enjoyed this movie, because the plot is slightly off kilter and the cast is great. The acting in this movie was superb, and although it varied from the book, it was still good in itself. I recommend it for people who like something different.

worth seeing for Mary Beth Hurt .......2006-12-01

The movie based on John Irving's novel depicting the then rising movement of militant feminism and contrasting it with the truly liberated women, typified by Helen. The movie works best when it is lightly satirizing the militants in the first half. In the second, it becomes heavy-handed in its presentation--but then the militants are typically heavy-handed themselves.

As a movie, I found the effect somewhat scattered. It doesn't really work as a family-man movie, in spite of the many efforts in that direction. People do muddle through their lives, and in that respect the movie is realistic. But in the end, the effect is more of a so what? than a satisfying experience. And of course, a film about the militant feminists could not be made nowadays.

The best thing about the movie is Mary Beth Hurt, whose career more or less ended after this film when she divorced William Hurt and married a business man.

Lacks the novel's depth, but a good companion.......2006-01-02

A film adaptation of John Irving's massive, cerebral novel The World According to Garp seems like an impossible task; the book spans decades and produces much of its meaning through an analytic narrative. George Roy Hill's version overcomes these challenges by condensing some of the material and allowing the characters to speak more openly about themselves and each other. What remains is Garp Light, a noble effort at capturing the novel on film but one I would not suggest for anyone who has not read the book.

As in the book, no earth-changing plots are found in this film. Rather, it's the story of people, their feelings, their dreams, their limitations, and (in the end) their fears. The central figures are Garp (Robin Williams) and his mother, Jenny Fields (Glenn Close). Through events in their lives, the film expounds upon feminism, writing, love/sex and the joy and pain of being a parent.

As "Garp" opens, Jenny Fields decides being a mother should not require a woman to share her life with a man. After living out this dream and putting her story into a book, she becomes an icon of the feminist community. The essence of Garp (or the world according to him) grows from being a boy raised in such a way. As a man, he is sensitive, peculiar, introverted and full of quirks and compulsions.

One important addition to the movie deals with Garp's longing for a father. It was always a failing omission from the novel (unless Irving suggests fathers aren't that important). The film corrects his mistake, showing how even a child raised by a great mother will still feel a bit empty about not having a father.

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