Stometer Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Protraph Lack of good storyline.

Bereamic Awesome Movie

Payno I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

gab-14712 Private Benjamin is a movie that could have been a comedy classic. It has an all-star cast led by the likes of Goldie Hawn, Eileen Brennan, and Albert Brooks. The premise is comedy gold. Who wouldn't like a snobby, self-centered person put into his/her place by the military. The thing is, Private Benjamin only partly delivers on the promise of an endearing comedy. The first half of the film is solid entertainment filled with funny gags. However, the second half was stale and it left me with a sour taste in my mouth that diminished the overall quality and effectiveness of the movie.When Yale Goodman (Albert Brooks) dies after marrying his wife Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn), Judy decides to enlist in the United States Army. The Army recruiter, Jim Ballard (Harry Dean Stanton) paints her a picture about a wonderful life in the Army. But when she arrives to basic training, it is anything but that pretty picture. Now she must survive from the likes of her captain Doreen Lewis (Eileen Brennan), and the commander of the Army's elite paratroopers, Clay Thornbush (Robert Webber).If the movie only had a focus on the first half, this would have been a great movie. Judy, who always has been dependent on other people her entire life, really gets a rude awakening when she arrived at camp. That scene where she was trying to explain that she signed up for the army, but not this army to Captain Lewis and her fake understanding was really funny. I bet she loved cleaning those latrines! Watching her struggle through basic training is comedy gold. Whether it's crawling in the mud or going over brick walls, she has come to realize perhaps she made the wrong decision to join the military. The interactions between Captain Lewis and Benjamin may be the only reason to give this movie a watch.Then Clay Thornbush entered the picture. We abruptly go from a story about basic training to a segment about an older man making sexual advances on Judy. These scenes were mean-spirited and didn't make sense. Then we have illogical sequences featuring a romance between Judy and a Frenchman (played by Armand Assante). The whole post-basic training part of the movie was messy, incoherent, and did not fit well with the first half.This premise is the perfect premise for a comedic talent such as Goldie Hawn. In fact, Nancy Meyer's script was tailor made for her. Her character was made to be annoying at times, but Hawn did well with what she was given. But there is one performance that stands out above the rest, and that is Eileen Brennan as Captain Lewis. It's nice to see a female portray a tough-as-nails drill instructor. Not only is she tough, but she adds fake sweetness to her toughness. The chemistry she both Brennan and Hawn had is worth every penny.Private Benjamin could have been a better movie, if only it stuck with the basics. The first half was a well-done farce about military basic training, but the addition of not-needed characters and some rather abrupt personality changes took down the movie several notches. I was surprised how the movie was nominated for three Academy Awards. Sure maybe Eileen Brennan deserved her nomination, but I do not think Goldie Hawn was good enough for a nomination, and definitely not the screenplay. That being said, I still laughed from time to time and had some fun.My Grade: C

Predrag This comedy flick is about a spoiled Jewish-American woman Judy Benjamin (Goldie Hawn) who joins the Army after her new husband dies right on their wedding night during sex and duped by sneaky recruiting Sgt. Jim Ballard (Harry Dean Stanton) convinces her that military life to be glamorous, she gets a rude wake up call in boot camp after getting in trouble constantly, especially by Judy's hard-nosed superior officer Capt. Doreen Lewis (Eileen Brennan) prompting her to want a quit the Army, but then Judy has a change of heart and decides to stick it out leading her to a series of adventures that eventually lead her to a promotion and a transfer to Paris, France.The entire cast is outstanding, but especially Hawn who lights up the screen with her charm and beauty. Goldie Hawn is made for this kind of role, and as usual delivers the goods. There are some genuinely 'laugh out loud' moments as she struggles to adapt and make friends. Unfortunately the film seems to run out of steam half way through. Whereas the first half is true comedy, the second half has very little in the way of humor to offer. Having met a French gynecologist who she falls for, she wangles a posting to Paris to be with him. This is where the humor disappears as Judy leaves the army to be with him and he turns out to be a control freak that turns Judy into a clone of his ex girlfriend. It's almost like watching two separate films. I think it would have been better if the whole movie was her in the army not broken into basically two parts one distinctly comedic and the other a love story. Still, despite some glaring flaws, Private Benjamin is a good movie with a good story to tell. Unfortunately, what was probably a pretty daring look at gender rolls for its time has gotten really stale. If you overlook that, though, the movie is very entertaining.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

John T. Ryan THE POST Vietnam War years were a sort of mixed bag of conflicting attitudes, changing social mores and an unsure future. Every one of these elements are reflected in the films of that era and the elements that comprise the uneven mood and mission of PRIVATE BENJAMIN are typical.ALTHOUGH THE CONFLICT in Southeast Asia is not a player in the film, the now (1980) vilified Military is at the center of the story. One could gather that the writer and production team inferred that one's choosing to join or to make a career of the Armed Forces was below the dignity of anyone who wishes to "make anything of himself." PROMOTED AS A COMEDY starring vehicle for Miss Goldie Hawn, the movie proves to be much more complex. We concede that, yes it is a comedy in the Classic, Shakespearean sense and there were many a moment of high readings on the old laugh-meter. But there is always an underlying feeling of tension, uncertainty and indecision.THE PERFORMANCES BY the cast were better than average; with star Goldie Hawn and Eileen Brennan's lively interpretations of the women of the U.S. Army being the most interesting aspect of this uneven and preachy comedy-drama.THE FOLLOWING YEAR (1981) Warner Brothers launched a PRIVATE BENJAMIN TV Series; which ran on CBS. In the series, Eileen Brenan reprised her role from the feature film. She was the only hold over./

Gordon-11 This film is about a unfortunate young lady whose husband dies on their wedding night. She copes with her sorrow by mistakenly enlisting in the United States army."Private Benjamin" is very funny! Even the film is already thirty years old, the jokes are timeless. The scene that Goldie Hawn explaining that she is sent to the wrong army is hilarious. Well, actually the whole section about her adjusting to the fact that Army life is not a holiday is hilarious. Even though I have seen similar story lines before, it is still hilarious. If only all the comedies stood the test of time like "Private Benjamin"!