Review of The World According to Garp (1982) by Shane V — 23 Dec 2009

"The World According to Garp" is the story of a boy and his mother as his life proceeds. The title isn't exactly fitting, because even though Garp becomes a writer, an opinion on the world doesn't show up at all.

The movie is another tale of life and death, but focusing mainly on the life part. Robin Williams does a fantastic job playing Garp, as well as Glenn Close playing his mother. As for how he got his name, you'll have to watch the movie.

The movie progresses without a hitch from Garp as a child, to a high school boy with dreams of being a writer, to a husband and father, with his mother trailing behind constantly talking about lust. His mother eventually writes a book and becomes a feminist, catching her up in the Ellen James affair.

Garp becomes a serious writer, and feels a little jealous when his mother becomes hugely popular. The movie isn't funny as traditional Robin Williams films are, but takes a turn and becomes more of a sad movie.

Garp's life seems happy, several tragedies ensue, so on and so forth. The fantastic acting( especially John Lithgow playing a woman) keeps the film interesting, and it never truly stops to get boring.

There are no ten minute scenes where it's just "I love you, no I love you more." It just never gets boring because it never sets itself up to be all that exciting. A nice film like this gets a nice 8 out of 10.