Eagerness Equals Embarrassment

Rating: Null/10 (9 July 2004)

Possible spoilers...
This movie is actually pretty good when seen in the right context. 'Blues Brothers' doesn't need the context, but this requires a little thinking to get through it. Audiences in '79 couldn't because Spielberg hadn't given us enough of his brain to work with. He created a giant behemoth and we were wondering what it was about.
Comedy works only when you can take something the audience can understand and relate to, then taking some spins with it. In this regard, it's one of the hardest genres to win in. Scott got his right the first time ('Matchstick'). If this film had worked long ago, Spielberg would've been changed for the better...maybe.
Let's see how '1941' becomes interesting:
--Spielberg's World War II obsession. He understands the time and mood of the film far better than, say, 'Temple of Doom or 'Last Crusade. The gung-ho soldiers are obviously a variation of 'Private Ryan.
--Suburbia. Since 'Close Encounters (and even 'Jaws') we have always worked in this environment and given Spielberg money for it. 'E.t', 'Poltergeist', and 'Minority Report' come to mind right away.
--Our writers. Spielberg has invented his own "camp" of filmmakers of which he is Der Fuhrer, visually-speaking. Zemeckis is probably the cleverest of the campers, but only with the layered 'Future' series and 'Death Becomes Her'. Since then he's been disappointing all along. Milius is not of this camp and his inserts here (and in 'Jaws') stick out like Tarantino in 'Crimson Tide'.
--Comedy. Of all Spielberg's comedy efforts, this is his best that doesn't try being sentimental. Think of it, since 'Minority Report' Spielberg has been trying to make us laugh and hasn't had any luck. Look at the miserable 'Terminal' if you don't believe me.
See this in conjunction with 'Hook' and 'Empire of the Sun'. With these three you can see the Spielberg machine doing some interesting things without too many commercial trappings. Once you're familiar with the rest of Spielberg's work, then watch this. A premature satire of himself. If he made it today, we'd know what he was doing.
Final Analysis = = Learn from this...