Unpopular opinion on 'SNLesque' flick

Rating: 9/10 (18 January 2020)

1941 is not a masterpiece, and does not strive to be so. A comedy by the illustrious Steven Spielberg isn't what movie goers and comedy seekers think, and be warned that thought in the humor is required for the movie to make sense. The movie includes corny puppetry on a ferris wheel, tanks, aircraft, Christopher Lee, Slim Pickens, Dan Ackyroyd, and John Candy. Drawing from Animal House, John Belushi delivers an awkward, American hero persona that makes the common sense American see military involvement in the San Francisco Bay Area as an overreaction to the threat of Japanese attack. Racist? Possibly (given the time it was filmed and produced, and the Western worldview of Imperial Japanese) - hilarious definitely. Watching 1941 illicits a strange Oscar baiting comedy that ultimately self serves its own self deprecation of award winning movies Spielberg has directed and produced. Be warned: it is not Jackass and it is not Airplane. It is an historical drama-com dedicated to historical hilarity and poking fun at American reactionsim.