Less Good As Time Goes By

Rating: 5/10 (23 April 2007)

Although this movie attempts to be exciting and humorous, the humor is disconnected with reality. Altman wanted to make a statement about war without really understanding what it was really like to be in a combat situation in Korea. The surgery scenes are gruesome, yet they don't seem real enough. There is no sense of connection in the operating room with the pain of war. There are no artillery shells. They even have lots of time for horsing around and playing football. Basically, it is "good guys" versus "bad guys". The "bad guys" are Major Houlihan and Major Burns. Both Kellerman and Duvall are very good in their roles. Sutherland is pretty decent, but poorly developed. You get the sense that he likes dogs and is pretty decent, but he comes of as a complete pain-in-the-neck. Gould is disappointing. He comes across as a hippie, not as someone who really existed in the 1950s. Basically, there were amusing moments, such as the football game, but I never felt that this movie was anything more than an ego trip for Altman. I never felt that it was an honest look at the Korean War.