the audience applauded

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Good movie but grossly overrated

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

This is one of those movies that begs for IMDb to allow us to each have a handful of 11's to use. It has some action, a little FX, some eye candy, some naked eye candy, some spyglass candy AND it enlists a duffle bag of funny. Murray, Ramis, Candy and Reitman together equal the second best way a guy can spend a couple of hours. This movie can be watched yearly, or even more frequently, for decades. Before the internet, teenage boys could watch it daily even. Not that I have first hand experience with that. Or any other hand. Really.

It's nice to see some of the casts of Saturday Night Live and SCTV come together on film. Here, Bill Murray meets John Candy, and it's absolute hilarity at the expense of the army, obviously made on the basis of the success of "Private Benjamin", but changing genders as it heads back into comic territory that has tickled audiences going back way before Abbott and Costello turned the military upside down in "Buck Privates". Here, Murray and old pal Harold Ramos enter the military and fond themselves getting away with all sorts of pranks, with Candy and Judge Reinhold among the others they encounter in an attempt at becoming soldiers that seems to be a major implausibility. This farce isn't reflective of army life in any way, shape or form, just a scathing commentary on the silliness of the seriousness of it all. Arrogant non-commissioned officers, serious privates and imperious officers are given scathing portrayals, showing the real life NCO's, privates and commissioned officers how ridiculous they look with that scowling look and stuck up attitude that under some circumstances leads to rebellion. A young John Laroquette spoofs that image as the new captain on the training base who has secrets that isn't becoming of an officer.Emulating Sergeant Carter from "Gomer Pyle U.S.M.D.", Warren Oates plays the typical screaming and sneering drill sergeant who meets his match in the sassy Murray. P.J. Soles and Sean Young play two female m.p.'s who are lacking in discipline every time they encounter Murray and Ramis, especially when Murray gets frisky with an ice cream scoop. Forget about any sense of reality with their characters, thrown in along with some innocent T&A for sexy thrills. Having already explored slobs vs. the preppy's and slobs vs. the snobs, this is the slobs vs. humorless authority, making along with "Animal House" and "Caddyshack" a trio of slob comedies that started a new genre of comedy and one that is still ripped off today.

John Winger's life is not going to plan; he quits his job, his car is repossessed, his girlfriend has left him and he is about to lose his apartment… it is time for something different so he persuades his friend Russell Ziskey that what they need to do is enlist in the US Army. They find themselves in a platoon of similar misfits under the instruction of Sgt Hulka commanded by Capt. Stillman. Hulka is unimpressed by his platoon; especially Winger whose attitude is not what the military expects. Somehow they manage to pass basic training and the platoon is posted to Italy where they are to be the first troops to use the Army's latest vehicle… an armed and armoured RV! While there Winger and Ziskey decide to take the vehicle to see their girlfriends, a pair of female MPs, in West Germany. Stillman thinks they must be working for the Russians and takes the rest of the platoon to find them; unfortunately a map reading error takes them into Czechoslovakia… it will be up to Winger, Ziskey and their girlfriends to rescue them; preferably without starting a war in the process.This film is pretty funny most of the time even if it does get a bit too silly at times. If one hopes for a vaguely believable story you will be disappointed; just about everything is played for laughs and with the exception of Sgt Hulka it is hard to believe that any of the characters would progress as far as they have in the Army; the recruits don't get moulded into believable soldiers; Capt. Stillman is clearly incompetent from the start and it is unlikely that the two female MPs would keep getting Winger and Ziskey out of trouble… this isn't really a problem though because they more than enough laughs. Bill Murray and Harold Ramis are on good form as Winger and Ziskey and Warren Oates impresses as Sgt Hulka. The rest of the cast, which includes quite a familiar faces, is pretty solid too. The story has the sort of gags that would probably appeal to all ages but some swearing and gratuitous nudity mean it is only really suitable for older viewers. Overall I found this to be good silly fun, not a must see but worth watching if you are a fan of Bill Murray.These comments are based on watching the 'Extended Cut' version of the film.

They'll sell this as a comedy classic due to merely the release date, the names Bill Murray or John Candy, and the subconscious association with comedy quality this all coincides into.The truth is this is far too long although not particularly boring to watch, running over two hours; that nothing about it is specifically hilarious or in good taste, in fact some of it is pretty weird and forced, and overall it was quite an avoidable production, but it's fun, it's got lots of action and events taking place and it's in the sort of spirit that Americans love to love, what with a subtle dose of propaganda, an established perception that everything outside home is wilderness, and the way the main characters handle themselves as studs who always win.