Boy, is this a tale of two movies, or what? First half is a fairly good service comedy, not as funny as the Abbot and Costello stuff the soldiers are watching but, still, a nice tone of serious matters being taken lightly, all presented in Simon's usual charming, if somewhat over done, Borscht Belt manner. No wonder it was a hit on Broadway.
But then comes the ol act three problem and Simon's solution is to change movies from a dark "Operation Mad Ball" to an even darker "A Few Good Men" as, literally out of nowhere, Chris Walken's amusingly tyrannical drill sergeant goes absolutely, full on section eight and takes the film down with him. His crackup scene, with the revolver held to Matthew Broderick's head and the sweat and the hollow eyed stare, is agonizingly and embarrassingly bad and eventually I had to use the fast forward to move it along. You would think that a very good, veteran director like Mike Nichols could have sensed this and found a way to soft peddle this melodrama and return us to the whimsicality of the first half. You would be wrong.
Bottom line: Line drive hitters should not swing for the fences. And Neil Simon should not try to be Spig Wead. C plus.
But then comes the ol act three problem and Simon's solution is to change movies from a dark "Operation Mad Ball" to an even darker "A Few Good Men" as, literally out of nowhere, Chris Walken's amusingly tyrannical drill sergeant goes absolutely, full on section eight and takes the film down with him. His crackup scene, with the revolver held to Matthew Broderick's head and the sweat and the hollow eyed stare, is agonizingly and embarrassingly bad and eventually I had to use the fast forward to move it along. You would think that a very good, veteran director like Mike Nichols could have sensed this and found a way to soft peddle this melodrama and return us to the whimsicality of the first half. You would be wrong.
Bottom line: Line drive hitters should not swing for the fences. And Neil Simon should not try to be Spig Wead. C plus.