The World According to Garp (1982)

IMDb plot summary: A struggling young writer finds his life and work dominated by his unfaithful wife and his radical feminist mother, whose best-selling manifesto turns her into a cultural icon.

Directed by George Roy Hill. Stars Robin Williams, Mary Beth Hurt, and Glenn Close.

The World According to Garp stars Robin Williams as the titular Garp, and Glenn Close as his fiercely independent mother who had him on her own. As Garp tries to make his own way in the world as a writer, his mother becomes an international success  writing books of her own and opening up her home as a sort of haven to women who have no place else to go. This is based on a novel by John Irving, an author I have really liked before, and I would be curious to read the book, because this feels like a chaotic jumble as a movie. There's too much going on, I can't track the arcs of any of the characters, characters flit in and out with abrupt impacts on the story but none of it seems to match the themes that have been set up beforehand. My guess is that the novel suffered greatly from being smushed into the limitations of a two and a half hour movie. On the plus side, Glenn Close is incredible here. I don't understand her character even a little bit, but she is thoroughly engaging and I can believe her character built up a following in this world. I am intrigued by how relatively well they portrayed a trans woman, played by John Lithgow. Apparently Irving was unhappy with how they portrayed her and left work on the film because of it, but she does seem just like a regular character, although maybe a bit quirky -- though not any more than the rest of the world that they live in. The Roger Ebert review of this film said something like, "I finished the movie and then thought, 'What am I supposed to get out of that?'" And that's kind of how I feel about this myself. Individual pieces are engaging, but they don't add up to a coherent or satisfying whole.

How it entered my Flickchart:

🎥 The World According to Garp (1982)

📊 Ranked #2820/4017 on my Flickchart

🎯 Flickscore™: 30

lost to The Sword in the Stone (#2006 → #1966)

beat Did You Hear About the Morgans? (#3007 → #3009)

lost to Phantom of the Opera (#2507 → #2503)

lost to Pokémon Detective Pikachu (#2757 → #2547)

beat Bully (#2882 → #2885)

lost to Paint Your Wagon (#2819 → #2799)

beat Fedora (#2850 → #3431)

beat The Disappearance of Alice Creed (#2834 → #2909)

beat The 101-Year-Old Man Who Skipped Out on the Bill and Disappeared (#2826 → #2871)

beat Iron Eagle (#2822 → #2824)

lost to Three Days of the Condor (#2820 → #2694)

beat Immortal Beloved (#2821 → #2847)