"Good morning, Vietnam." What the heck is that supposed to mean?

Rating: 8/10 (26 August 2009)

In a move designed to hopefully boost the morale of the troops in Vietnam, DJ Adrian Cronauer is sent to Saigon to rock the airwaves. He does, in more ways than one, and as the madness of the war takes hold, Cronauer, his superiors and those closest to him, are all about to get taught some life lessons.
Based on the story of real life army disc jockey Adrian Cronauer, Good Morning Vietnam plonks us straight into Saigon in 1965. Before Cronauer's arrival at the radio station, the harried and weary American troops had been served a diet of boorish drone music and droopy health awareness programmes. Cronauer tore down the schedules and cranked out the likes of The Beach Boys, James Brown and Motown standards, all linked by Cronauer's spitfire patter and propensity for close to the knuckle humour. All of which made Cronauer a hero to the listening troops and a foe of the top brass. Enter Robin Williams as Cronauer.
Finally getting a vehicle to showcase his scattergun improvisation talents, Williams goes full tilt to make Cronauer a part of 1980s pop culture. Most of the studio scenes are just Williams let loose by director Barry Levinson. Given free rein {Levinson merely picked out the best bits from reams of tape} to poke fun at anything remotely military. So much so, the radio station sequences have a unique feel of exuberance about them, so really it's inevitable that when the film moves away from the station it's going to be something of a shift in mood. During these shifts Cronauer is involved in a would be romance, a friendship with a teenage Vietnamese boy, a teaching arc and dalliances with his sidekick Edward Garlick {an excellent Forest Whitaker}. Whilst the dialogue remains zippy and humorous, the film is suffering because of its radio station high points, and the finale is as divisive today as it was with audiences back on release.
However, the film remains a joyous viewing in spite of its irritants, and it should be noted that in amongst the jollification, Levinson is affording the Vietnamese people respect by way of portraying them as cultured and complex folk. How many Vietnam War film directors can say that I wonder? Backing up Williams and Whitaker is a cringe worthy turn from Bruno Kirby, with added weight coming in the form of an uptight J.T. Walsh. Nicely shot in Bangkok and Phuket by Peter Sova, scored appropriately by Alex North, and containing a delightful foot tapping soundtrack, Good Morning Vietnam overcomes its flaws and delivers something of a debatable 80s classic. 8/10