Bill Murray wants you! Do A Diddee Diddee Dumb Diddee Do!

Rating: 6/10 (21 May 2010)

If you know me in real life, you'd test me constantly on movie trivia, pretty much all of my friends do. But one of my favorite things they do is ask which movies I haven't seen and try to stump me, which my boyfriend did the other day with Stripes. I was a bit confused because I thought it was a movie I would have seen but never did. So he bought the movie and we watched it, from what he was describing, I was expecting one of the funniest comedies. After all it has Bill Murray, Harold Ramis and John Candy, some of the funniest actors of all time. But honestly I wasn't all that impressed, not to put the movie down, it does have some funny moments. Bill and Harold have excellent chemistry and make for great best friends on screen. John Candy is always a pleasure to watch and honestly I think that he stole the movie, he is just one of the most lovable actors in history and naturally you can't help but adore him. I watched his biography the other day and apparently the mud wrestling scene was very uncomfortable with him because of his weight, but he did it anyways just for the laughs and that's what makes him so wonderful, he is willing to do anything to put a smile on a person's face. But as wonderful as his presence is, Stripes is still over rated.
John Winger is a slacker in his late 20s who experiences the worst day of his life as, in the span of just a few hours, he quits his job, his car is repossessed, he drops his pizza on the street, and his girlfriend dumps him. Realizing that his life is a failure, he decides he needs a new direction. At that moment, a recruiting ad for the U.S. Army plays on the television, and he decides that is just what he needs to get in shape. Talking his best friend Russell into joining, they quickly drive to the nearest recruiting office and are soon off to basic training. Moments after arriving, Winger has already offended their drill sergeant, Sergeant Hulka, and stands out as a misfit throughout basic training. So throughout training, Winger keeps messing up and continues to be a goof as others are punished for his actions. He starts to question if the army really was for him all along or if there is still a strong possibility to over come it all and be an adult.
So did I hate the movie? No, I did like it. One of the scenes that I did really enjoy was when Murray finally gets his act together and pulls his troop in for the graduation and shows off. It was well put together and really excited me. I also loved how Murray makes some of the drills into a joke and as they're marching they start singing the "do-a-diddee" song. There are some memorable moments in the movie that definitely make it worth the watch. But over all I have to say that the script isn't one of those "non stop laughs" stories. It's one of those movies that I saw once and am more than happy with seeing the one time. So for nostalgic reasons, I would recommend it big time, plus it has an excellent cast that I'm sure you'll love. Though I admit, these were the good ol' days of dirty comedies and didn't apologize about it, I miss those and at least with Stripes I got a little of my traumatic childhood back.
6/10