Overrated

Rating: 4/10 (18 April 2001)

"MASH" must have been a pretty radical statement when it first came out, what with the Vietnam War and mainstream movies being ultra squeaky clean. However, when I watch it today, I really do not know why people consider it to be so great. Today, the idea of soldiers goofing off and chasing women instead of doing their job is old hat. Movies like "Three Kings" or most Czech "Schweik" style army comedies did this better. However, more importantly, "MASH" is not funny. Even when it is, though,all the humor is built on low, crude cliches like people getting drunk, people being embarassingly exposed when showering or having sex, or stereotypically innocent Asian teenagers being exposed to "Playboy" magazine for the first time. There is not even a plot. It´s just a series of random incidents. On the plus side, though, the cast is fine and the theme song sounds great. However, that´s not enough for this film to be a classic.