Could Have Been Good

Rating: 2/10 (9 August 2015)

This movie is based on the true story of an US Air Force man transferred from Crete to Vietnam in 1965 to be the new DJ of the US Army radio station, and when he goes on the air for the first time, he refuses to follow the dull format of the previous DJ or play the dull music that had been played. In the movie, the new DJ is in fact encouraged by his fellow enlisted soldiers to play contemporary pop music from Motown and The Beach Boys and engage in rapid-fire comedy patter. Various military people all laugh at the new DJ's verbal antics, but as might be expected, the military higher-ups are not pleased with the new DJ's irreverent program.
A good potential idea, but poorly utilized. Robin Williams' routine was reportedly ad-libbed, but his comedy routine failed to be funny. The soldiers are all shown laughing, but one gets the idea that they do so because that is what they were hired to do. Rapid-fire comedy and silly verbal antics can be hilarious, but Williams was simply dull and boring, as if he wasn't sure exactly what he was supposed to do. I didn't bother to finish the film; what I saw of it shouted that it was going to be standard and clichéd, and what good is it to watch a comedian who is not funny?
I wonder what the real-life DJ was like. He certainly must have been funnier.