My extended review of the film

Rating: Null/10 (8 January 2005)

They say that if you are a fan of the TV series you will not like 'MASH' the film. I would not call myself a real M*A*S*H fan. Sure, I have watched a few episodes, but I don't really follow it. Nevertheless I have seen enough to know that it is miles superior to Robert Altman's 1970 film, in terms of acting, characters and especially in terms of jokes.
'MASH' was a highly popular film when it was released. Many saw it as the perfect epitome of rebellion against authority and anti-war sentiments. It even received Oscar nominations for Best Picture and Best Director. Nowadays it feels out-of-date and old-fashioned, and not even all that much fun. I have heard it compared to 'Animal House' for its humour and anti-authority attitudes, but what made 'Animal House' better than the average such film was the well developed and appealing characters, of which 'MASH' the film (certainly not the TV series) has next to none.
But with the TV series being a later spin-off from the movie, it is not quite right to compare and criticise. But the contrast is stark. However the film gets compliments for providing the excellent song score that would be used in the TV series. Here it has lyrics, and the song is memorable and rather well composed  its purpose however is not. The song is entitled "Suicide is Painless" and is sung to a MASH worker who wants to commit suicide. Some have taken offence to the song as its proposal as the suicidal in the film wants to die for being homosexual. There is a further reason for this, so the offensiveness is not 100% justified, but the song still feels in bad taste.
So what else is wrong with the film? It is episodic but disjointedly so. The small number of adventures of the characters do not fit in well together or flow well. There are also a number of irrelevant sequences that show rebellion against the system or the exploits of the MASH workers but nothing else. And the final main scene goes on for too long without much happening. One of the biggest problems however is that the characters talk over each other constantly. Not to mention, the jokes are dead awful.
What can I say? I strongly disliked this film and I feel that it is one of the weakest Best Picture Academy Award nominees that I have seen. Had it been adapted from the TV series and not the other way around it would be inexcusable.