The first 2 thirds of this were really quite watchable and successful in my view. Only the last 3rd starts to go a bit wrong - as the actors seems unsure how to top what they have already done and you see them lose confidence or start to imitate their earlier performances with fixed/glazed expressions. The final courtroom speech by Morgan Freeman also seems contrived and insincere. That said, everything else seemed spot on to me, I liked the almost cartoonish approach to the characterisation - Seinfeld did the same a lot of the time and was praised - and I liked the locations, costumes, camera movements etc. Tom Hanks is very good here in my view, more likable than when he plays the all-American good guy. Perhaps more could have been done with the Bruce Willis character - show his vanity and nastiness some more as in the book. But, like many reviewers here, not sure why this movie was so despised at the time.