great improv by Williams

Rating: 8/10 (15 April 2012)

"Good Morning Vietnam" is the story of Adrian Cronauer - well, that's how it started out - until Robin Williams got his hands on it. The real Cronauer actually didn't employ humor in his broadcasts. But I'm sure he was very happy to have a star such as Robin Williams interested in his story.
In the '60s, Cronauer is assigned to the US Armed Services Radio station in Vietnam and finds it pretty dull with a lot of boring music playing. He immediately shakes things up with his broadcasts, which begin GOOD MORNING Vietnam. He makes a lot of jokes, plays a lot of rock music, and infuriates some of the powers that be with his total irreverence. He also develops a crush on a young woman (Chintara Sukapatana) and follows her one day to an English class. He ends up teaching some of the more colloquial phrases to the class, which is delighted, and he becomes friendly with the young woman's brother (Tung Thanh Tran). He starts hanging out at a local bar and even gets used to the food.
Despite his immense popularity, the waves he is making threaten to get him drummed out, as he is unhappy about censored news and one day mentions a tragedy that occurred on the radio. Slowly, Cronauer sees more of the war, meets soldiers going into combat, and learns the hard way that he can't trust everyone, and he gets a big-time reality check.
Filmed in Thailand, Good Morning, Vietnam is a really excellent film that combines comedy with drama, improvisation with a solid script and manages to show the horror of war and its effect on the citizens and soldiers.
Williams, who improvises all of the radio shows, is marvelous as Cronauer, here a man who uses humor in his life until he is faced with some harsh truths -- and even then, in one of his darkest moments, he finds his sense of humor again. Forrest Whitaker, as a soldier working at the radio, gives a wonderful performance. As Lt. Steven Hauk, Bruno Kirby is brilliant as a delusional man who thinks his groan-worthy sense of humor and Mantovani music is just the ticket for a radio show.
Well worth seeing by baby boomers for the nostalgia value (though not all good) and by anyone to appreciate the skills of Robin Williams as an actor and comic.