Bardlerx Strictly average movie

Hulkeasexo it is the rare 'crazy' movie that actually has something to say.

Ogosmith Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Hollywood_Yoda Let's be honest, Steve Martin is one of the best comedic actors of his generation, a very talented man. One of the best quotes he ever said as an actor comes from this film, "All I want is an honest week's pay for an honest days work." This is a great comedy film, also starring the late Phil Hartman, Dan Aykroyd, and a young Chris Rock. Truly a Saturday Night Live fan's dream team.The story, based on an idea from the Phil Silvers Show is about an aloof, and sometimes nonsensical Army sergeant who plays by his own rules and schemes. Who to play the part better than Steve Martin? The guy has great comedic timing, and its like the part was written for him.Jonathan Lynn did a great job directing the cast, and he is probably one of the best comedy directors of the era, save for Dennis Dugan. If you like Steve Martin, you'll love this film, he makes it his own. And if you enjoy this film, watch THE DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN or GREEDY.

bpatrick-8 OK, Steve Martin is not Phil Silvers. Martin is from a middle-class background in Waco, Texas; Silvers was a New York street kid who probably had to hustle just to survive. It stands to reason, then, that Martin will--and should--play Bilko differently, which he does, even though he still has the money-making schemes going and, central to the plot, convincing his superiors that the hovertank works, which it does not, to keep himself from being shipped to Greenland and to keep Fort Baxter open.Dan Aykroyd as Col. Hall is just as much a patsy for Bilko as Paul Ford was on the television series, and I don't think Phil Hartman was so bad as the officer whom Bilko set up some time back by making it look like he's paid off a fighter to take a dive, got sent to Greenland, and now intends for Bilko to suffer the same fate. What's missing is that Bilko's platoon is largely faceless (they don't make enough use of Doberman, who was the real star of the television series), but in keeping with the updated setting from the 1950s to the 1990s, Bilko's immediate underlings are a woman and an African American.Also, the setting of Fort Baxter has changed from Kansas to California, although I think in the last year of the TV series the setting was moved to one Camp Freemont, California. Here, too, Bilko's girlfriend is a civilian schoolteacher; on the series, as I recall, it was a WAC.But nitpicking aside, Martin's Bilko, like Silvers', in effect runs the base, gets up when he wants, toadies up to the brass, and generally comes off as a sergeant I'll bet everybody who ever wore an Army uniform would have liked to have. No one ever really gets hurt by his scams (except maybe Thorn, who ends up back in Greenland at the end). And somehow he seems more harmless than Silvers although both are, as someone else once put it, "Bugs Bunny in a uniform." Catherine Silvers, Phil Silvers' daughter, who plays one of the auditors brought in by Thorn to try to get something on Bilko, even praised Martin for not trying to imitate her dad.There's also a connection to "My Cousin Vinny" here; Jonathan Lynn used Mitchell Whitfield and Austin Pendleton in that film as well.I do agree with the contributor who said that the funniest line comes at the end, when the producers acknowledge the "total lack of cooperation from the United States Army."

ThatMOVIENut Based on the classic 50s comedy series, the movie plays out like an extended episode, seeing the wiley Bilko (Steve Martin) getting up to wacky money making schemes with his subordinates at a military base while keeping their superior (Dan Ackroyd) out of the loop. This time, it concerns an old rival of Bilko's (Phil Hartman) who is determined to expose Bilko's hijinks, all the while, Bilko deals with finding love and a new top secret weapon.Possibly a candidate for one of the most boring comedies I've ever sat down to watch, and the fact that this comes from 'Clue' and 'Yes Minister's' Johnathan Lynn makes this all the more inexcusable. Most of the film is completely wooden wordplay, lazy innuedo or poorly edited slapstick, and when it tries to have a plot, it's just a retread of every cheeky rascal/wacky army film comedy (seriously, name a trope and it's there. Crazy soldiers, stupid boss, snarky officer, harebrained schemes that take up more time than actual training, brand new deadly weapon, yadda yadda), and it does nothing new, clever or amusing with them to make the retread vaguely compelling.Not even the performances or production can save it. Every actor is just coasting by, with Ackroyd on complete autopilot in a thankless role, while Martin and Hartman regurgitate familiar 'smartass' and 'professional pain' routines we've seen many times from them respectively, and Lynn's direction is completely lifeless and televisual which only neuters the gags even more. Of note is an embarrassingly poor use of CG for the super tank that looks like it was ripped from a cut price PS1 game. Honestly, I just can't come up with more as the film is giving me nothing to work with. Among the careers of the people involved, this is an all time low, and I would advise avoiding unless you are a very, very die-hard fan of Martin. I'd happily take 'Pink Panther 1' and '2' over this any time.

SnoopyStyle Sgt. Bilko (Steve Martin) commands the motor pool at Fort Baxter. He's got gambling, games, and renting out vehicles to earn money. Colonel John Hall (Dan Aykroyd) is willing to overlook his outrageous antics or more likely is too incompetent to find the violations. Private Wally Holbrook is a real mechanic who is new to the base. Bilko keeps forgetting to attend his own wedding to Rita Robbins (Glenne Headly). The Pentagon sends Major Colin Thorn (Phil Hartman) to observe the new hover tank. Thorn had an ugly history with Bilko when his actions banished Thorn to Greenland. The hover tank works poorly. When Thorn finds out that Bilko is on the base, he schemes to take revenge.The movie starts with a lot of fun. Martin's irreverence is terrific. I wish the other characters get more stuff to do. It has a funny guy like Chris Rock and he's nothing more than a stiff shirt. Daryl Mitchell is not funny enough. There seems to be some good comedic actors but this is not a group comedy. This is mostly Martin. Hartman is good. The comedy fades a bit in the second half. The movie has a few good laughs.