The Comedy Should Have Been Blacker

Rating: 6/10 (6 July 2003)

For the most part I did enjoy GOOD MORNING VIETNAM but I can`t help feeling that it would have been a great film if there was a more cynical darker edge to the comedy with more lines like " You mean we should escalate the war so we can get bigger names ? " or Adrian Cronauer`s interview with the make believe intelligence officer . That said the scene with Adrian meeting and entertaining the young draftees going off to war is haunting just because it`s so understated while the montage of Vietnamese villages burning against the soundtrack of What A Wonderful World is intrusive because of its sledgehammer unsubtlety - And lets not forget Michael Moore made a career out of this scene . The cast are fairly good with Robin Williams giving one of his better in your face performances while Forest Whittaker plays his role in his usual affable likable way and Bruno Kirby is very memorable as Lt Hauk the laughably unfunny DJ .
So a fairly good take on the Vietnam war from a different perspective , but I couldn`t help thinking it should have been to `Nam what MASH was to Korea