I appreciate how very low-budget this is; if moments rolling past this or that landmark aren't stock footage, then they may as well have been. And why not pause the image for a few seconds on such scenery, or recycle some shots, just to help pad out the length that tiniest bit? Factor in a rudimentary plot with thin sketches of characters, both serving merely as an excuse for innuendo, sex jokes, gratuitous nudity, and sex scenes - hey, that's a movie! The set dressing and wardrobe are just enough to get the job done, as are the acting, the direction, and for that matter the writing... Look, this is no must-see. I wonder if anyone ever needs to see it ever, unless you're a huge fan of someone involved. But if you're looking for something silly and light that you don't need to actively engage with, or if you're just bored or curious, I suppose there are worse things than 'Basic training' that you could watch.
If you enjoy "sex comedies" as a genre, this is probably right up your alley. I guess my point of concern is that it takes the cheap and easy road at almost all times. There are bits of cleverness here or there, a gag or a line that come off well, and I suppose writer Bernie Kahn deserves credit for finding ways to insert innuendo anywhere and everywhere. I appreciate the tongue-in-cheek core concept of idealistic Melinda being forced to change her tune to get anywhere with those ideals. At the same time, it's very easy to imagine how this could have been smarter, and more fun. For one thing, in some measure this is definitely intended as a parody or maybe a satire of the United States government, and specifically of its military management (think 'Canadian bacon,' or 'Stripes'). Such facets are pretty much only a vehicle for that very same sex comedy, however, so the intelligence that could have gone into witty mockery of the halls of power doesn't really go anywhere. Alternatively, the writing and even the set design - almost uniformly geared strictly toward those same raunchy ends - are so outrageous that the picture is a half-step away from being a parody of the sex comedy. I'm distinctly reminded to some extent of John Waters' imperfect yet underrated 2004 romp 'A dirty shame,' that embraced every most farcical notion and ran with it. 'Basic training,' however, earnestly wants to be that cheesy, sleazy sex comedy, and it never especially aims higher. Ah, what this could have been.
It's not outright bad. Even as someone who doesn't broadly care for sex comedies, I think this is entertaining on some baseline level, the sort of thing you put on when you just want to space out. I'll even go so far as to say that in the narrative and scene writing alike there are parts of this I genuinely like; were Kahn of a mind to approach his screenplay with more sincerity, well, there would probably be more praise in my words now. Andrew Sugerman seems like a perfectly capable director. As it stands, of course, the feature prioritizes All Things Sexual over anything else, so whatever other value one may discern basically ends up being an incidental bonus. This includes, for example, Walter Gotell playing a cheeky variation on General Gogol, the Soviet official he revisited multiple times in Eon Productions' James Bond franchise; on the other hand, the climax where we see Gotell the most is paired with a concurrent scene that just lingers too long, as is true of some others. All told I think 'Basic training' is a good time; only, one way or another, it's nothing super special, and not essential by any means. Save it for a lazy day, and let's just leave it at that.
