After becoming increasingly disenchanted throughout this seemingly endless film, I began to wonder what the message, if any, was. It appeared to me that the theme was that it didn't matter if you were an idiot, things would work out fine so long as you are American and your hearts is pure. Some time after seeing the movie I read extracts from the original book which was clearly of more satirical intent. Forrest Gump is a modern day Candide living out a pseudo-panglossian idyll where everything works out for the best (in this best of all possible worlds.) While the book clearly highlights the absurdity of this, the movie takes a superficial view that illustrates the situations without any apparent understanding of irony.