Spectacular - Love it or Hate it

Rating: Null/10 (4 June 2002)

I've liked this movie since I first saw it in the theater, and I like the extended version as well although it does move a bit more slowly. I am not sure I can classify 1941 as a comedy. It's not really funny. Not in a belly-laugh sort of way. It doesn't hit me the way a Marx Brothers film does... or even a Farrelly Brothers film. It doesn't have a lot of laughs unless you think people screaming and getting clobbered is funny. What it does have is some spectacular, over-the-top scenes that are extremely entertaining. Mad Mad Mad Mad World is to me a fabulously entertaining film, I love to watch it over and over, but it is not a belly laugh film either. 1941 is not quite in the same class as Stanley Kramer's classic though. Its the kind of film that if you miss a minute, you won't know what's happening - but it doesn't matter anyway, because trying to watch too closely will give you quite a headache. 1941 is a monstrous boatload of cliche's - think of every war movie cliche' and every slapstick cliche' you ever heard of, packed into 2 or 2.5 hours depending on the version, and you'll be in the ballpark. In some cases it's just Three Stooges ornery violence, or the kind of unfunny punches in the jaw that make me dislike most Adam Sandler movies. If you try to find some greatness in the whole movie you probably won't. If you want some real entertainment just fast forward to the USO dance portion. From the moment it starts, and then into the jitterbugging, it's fabulous. Of course its filled with the same slapstick and cliche's as the rest of the movie, but backed by a pounding rhythm and unbelievable dance/fight choreography. This part of the film is where the Spielberg-ism really shines through, the kind of mayhem that uniquely identifies his style. Also near the beginning there is a scene of a couple of cooks dancing in the kitchen of a greasy spoon joint, throwing dishes and food in time to "In The Mood". And the scene when Robert Stack steps out of the theater, cool as a cucumber, while a car flips upside-down behind him which he completely ignores. I wish there had been more of this kind of stuff in the film, and less screaming. Ok, one scream is pretty good - Warren Oates screaming "let me hear your guns!!" at Belushi, with his glasses broken, looking every bit the cliche' madman. I can't explain why I like a movie that is so hard to come up with good things to say about it, but like it I do. It is worth watching just for the USO portion, just skip the rest and don't worry about the characters - the film has no sympathetic characters, with the possible exception of Stack playing General Stillwell straight, in a "Green Acres" sort of way. Take a couple aspirin, don't turn the sound up too loud, and don't expect too much, you might be pleasantly surprised.