is this a generational thing?

Rating: Null/10 (19 March 2004)

Three very intelligent and literate twenty-somethings, including myself (how's that for modesty?), once watched this movie after a big turkey dinner. Within ten minutes, we were chatting amongst ourselves. Within twenty minutes we were silent, not because the movie had hooked us, but because our heads were falling slowly, drawing ever closer to the couch...and the blissful release of sleep.
Our elders (and perhaps betters) nevertheless seem to think that this is a really hilarious, really insightful movie. Hmm...interesting. I, for one, was bothered by the episodic plot, which never stuck with a conflict long enough to get me interested. I also thought that the humor varied wildly in tone; many of the early segments are downright disturbing (I actually think our "heroes" are callous jerks for much of the time), but we wrap up with a silly slapstick football match. It doesn't help that this film, like the subsequent TV show, is downright ugly to look at - like a love letter to tan and olive drab. I suppose that's the ugliness of war, but I've never been so I wouldn't know...again, maybe it's a generational thing.
This is the second time that Altman has bored me into a stupor! If he serves up another turkey, I'll be ready to declare him the most overrated director of all time.