A legendary, career-defining dramedy that started a lot of unnecessary debate outruns Tom Cruise on streaming

Summer blockbusters aren’t what they used to be, but then, the theatrical market hasn’t well and truly been the same since 1994. Indeed, even without the likes of the Minions, semi-predatory nostalgia, and VFX-heavy nonsense saturating the cinema, you’d be hard-pressed to replicate the energy of a year that saw Pulp Fiction, Quiz Show, The Shawshank Redemption, and Forrest Gump all hit the big screen for the first time.

All of these films have endured over thirty years later, but none quite like Forrest Gump, which nabbed six Oscars from thirteen nominations and is still beloved by audiences of all generations and persuasions thanks to its open-hearted sweetness, sincerity, and humor. And appropriately enough, it’s kicking off the new year with some streaming dominance.

Per FlixPatrol, Forrest Gump is running circles around fifth place on the United States’ Paramount Plus film charts at the time of writing. Down in ninth place, meanwhile, Jack Reacher: Never Go Back shuffles about, putting Gump‘s ingenious casting of Tom Hanks into even better perspective; indeed, maybe the five-foot-eight Tom Cruise wasn’t the best choice for the canonically six-foot-five Jack Reacher.

Forrest Gump stars Hanks as Forrest Gump, an Alabamian man and accidental entrepreneur who bumbles through life with matter-of-fact optimism and a simple-but-unwavering moral compass. His adventure from boy to man puts him in the middle of some of the most definitive events in American history, but all he cares about is reuniting with the love of his life Jenny (Robin Wright).

Forrest Gump has been adopted by viewers all over the political spectrum, but has more widely been dubbed a conservative film on account of Jenny (who epitomizes the countercultural climate of 1960s America) being miserable all the time, while Forrest finds great success and even joy in his more traditional approach to life.

And yet, Hanks’ protagonist is one of the most glaringly apolitical characters that come to mind. One need only cast their mind to Forrest’s cross-country marathon to clue in to the heart and soul of this character and, by extension, the film itself. The fame he garners from this excursion leaves all of his followers wondering why he’s running, what purpose he’s running for, and what all of this running stands for.

Forrest has no answer to any of these questions; he’s running because he decided he wanted to run. It’s not a matter of having figured life out or standing for something; he’s simply following his heart, which is what he does in absolutely every context he finds himself in. None of his actions are done from a place of trying to satisfy his ego, make a point, have an opinion, or anything of that sort; he runs because he wants to run, and he loves because he wants to love. He never pushes his sphere of influence wider than his own body, and, like the film itself, he leaves one hell of a beautiful impact as a result. Indeed, is it any wonder that folks of all political alignments see themselves so clearly in a film that puts emphasis on one’s humanity? Maybe we should trying seeing that in each other.