Spielberg's early ambitious mess

Rating: 5/10 (19 February 2001)

This is one of those movies I keep coming back to, hoping I've been too hard on it. I'm always disappointed. I like the idea of this movie and some of the performances are fantastic, notably John Belushi, Dan Aykroyd and Treat Williams (watch that bipolar psycho trick when he wipes the frown off his face). But overall it's a mess. There are too many subplots that don't pay off (the longer DVD version helps a little) and too many scenes bustling with performers mugging desperately for "big comedy". The biggest problem may have been the timing of the film's production. The 1940s sensibilities clash with the '70s irreverence (it compares quite unfavorably with Bob Clark's "A Christmas Story", which was set in the same era). The (ill-advised)effort to make this a WWII Animal House is further impeded by weak performances by Bobby deCicco and Tim Matheson as the "wacky" free spirits.