An insightful and intelligent view on the early days of Vietnam also acts as the perfect Robin Williams vehicle

Rating: 9/10 (27 July 2010)

A big hit when it came out in 1987, "Good Morning Vietnam" follows the five month stay of Adrian Cronauer (Williams), a wildly enigmatic radio dj who's brought to Vietnam to start the 6:00 time slot in the morning. What the Army gets is far more than what they expected. Cronauer mocks everything about Vietnam and the world, making up headlines, imitating soldiers, and inserting plenty of blunt and fast humor. While the soldiers on duty appreciate this, his higher lieutenants are displeased by his outlandishness.
The film works twofold. The first, and most obvious attribute, is the humor. Robin Williams is truly on a roll here, making up and firing jokes as fast as he can. I had to turn on closed captioning so I could understand them all, but once I did, I appreciated his humor far more. It also helped that I knew some history from the time period, so I could understand more of the jokes. You'll want to have an appreciation for his kind of humor here; Barry Levinson lets his radio broadcasts (and, at one point, his sudden one man show for numerous truckloads of soldiers) go on for quite some time.
The second, and not so obvious attribute, is that this movie is also a very smart insight into the early days of the Vietnam war. We see news headlines printed about how the number of soldiers being sent to Vietnam are increasingly rapidly. Terrorist bombings start occurring in Saigon, traumatizing Adrian to the point of where he can't do his broadcasts. The Vietnamese are also portrayed very well here, with some shown as being appreciative of the American presence, some as skeptical, and some more with both feelings.
And just as Robin Williams is shown as a funnyman, he is also shown as a more down-to-earth person. It's interesting to watch the progression of his character, as we learn more and more that he uses humor as a wall of sorts to block him from the bitter truths of life. Though he never admits it, we know it saddens him that the people who are listening to his show are doomed to a worsening conflict. There is a bitter irony when he hear his final broadcast and he says "I've got the lottery ticket out of here!" This really is the perfect Robin Williams vehicle, because we get to see him both as a comedian and as a "regular guy" (although, admittedly, it's kind of hard for him to be a "regular guy" when he's so famous among the fellow soldiers). And the screenplay is smart too. The comedy makes it watchable, and the historical and political insight makes it memorable.