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Please don’t let a super-sized screen, nor that Best Picture Oscar (over “Pulp Fiction,” for crying out loud!), nor that $600 million-plus box office take convince you that “Gump" is anything but a treacly mediocrity. While it has moments of sweetness and charm, it is absurdly overrated.

News flash: Adam Sandler’s new movie reveals something dire lurking under Hollywood   I want to admit something to you – I don’t enjoy Jimmy Fallon. It always seems that he is having a much better time than his audience. That is not to say that I don’t think he is a talented guy or that I disagree with the idea that performers should have fun, but gradually it becomes apparent that his fun is at our expense. He cavorts, introduces inside jokes, winks, and generally plays out personal interactions based on what is amusing to him (rather than what might be amusing to an audience). Worst of all... God help us, he just can’t stop smirking. It’s like he’s secretly watching a loop of Moe poking Curly in the liver over and over inside his cerebellum. It’s distracting and makes him seem disingenuous.  This is also the reason I dislike the set of Adam Sandler movies. The majority of his films, particularly some of his most recent offerings, appear to be an excuse to get his buddies together, like some kind of extremely well-funded camp reunion, with the film as by-product. Their antics are then edited into an embarrassing reel of sad sack races and volleyballs-in-the-nuts bloopers – “Ow, my groin” – hilarious every time.