Why I can't watch Gomer Pyle

Rating: 4/10 (27 November 2000)

First things first: I WANTED to see this film. I think Ben Stiller is a hoot and De Niro is an excellent actor who is perfect for this material. De Niro did not disappoint and Stiller was exactly right for his role. Everyone was well-cast.
So, then, why did this movie stink?
I'll start by saying, I can't watch "Gomer Pyle, USMC". It's not that I don't like Jim Nabors; it's just that the show is about how Gomer always does things that are painfully and blatantly obviously STUPID and WRONG. Gomer asks out Sgt. Carter's girlfriend because the Sarge has to work in town and Gomer doesn't want her to feel lonely; then Sarge sees Gomer and goes on the rampage. Well, DUH. Nobody would do anything so stupid unless they really wanted to pursue the girlfriend. It's painful because I see it coming a mile away.
Ben Stiller plays the Gomer Pyle role in this film. DeNiro is superb as the suspicious and unapproachable father in the Sergeant Carter mold. Stiller's character does so many things that are so STUPID and WRONG that you wonder how he could have survived to adulthood. I don't want to give anything away, but you and I and everyone else in the world knows that you don't try to "replace" a highly trained animal with one you found at the pound! Well, DUH! You see everything in this movie coming - a mile away.
At least Gomer Pyle was only a half hour long. I kept wanting to get up and leave but several members of my family were along and I couldn't very well leave them there. At least I was treated, at the very end of the film, to a fantastically hilarious airline subplot that really made my wait mostly worthwhile. Every time I am in a situation with obvious airline morons in the future, you know that I'll be thinking, "Step Off!"
4/10 stars, only because the acting was terrific.