Nowhere as funny as the similar Animal House but quite good if you are in the mood for a no-brainer

Rating: 6/10 (5 September 2005)

Everyone knows that Bill Murray has come a long way from his SNL days and the mostly embarrassing movies he made through most of the 80's and 90's, but it is still fun to see him as just a goofy guy as he plays in this one. Harold Ramis made his first joint appearance here with Murray and I must say that they make a pretty good team. Many of their collaborative efforts like the 2 Ghostbusters movies and the Ramis-directed Groundhog day was simply shear hilarity. However, Stripes is not nearly as easy to sit through as those marvels. I don't know what it is but it seems that this kind of material has always been beneath both Murray and Ramis. If every major player in this film hadn't made better films than this one you would probably have forgotten about it in little time.
There are some vaguely familiar faces scattered across every minute of this film. John Diehl from "Miami Vice" plays a rather dimwitted character, as does Judge Reinhold from "Beverly Hills Cop". Then there is of course the great John Candy who was a little bit embarrassed to do one particular scene with a pair of not so dressed women but of all the supporting players he is the one who makes the most of what he is given here. Last but not least there is Warren Oates as the gruff but kind of decent Sgt. Hulka. He has his greatest moment when he tells the totally idiotic character "Psycho" to lighten up. Oh, and I almost forgot the love interests of Ramis and Murray who are quite good looking but never rises above their decorative parts. It is funny to think that Sean Young as one of the ladies was completely forgotten after only 10 years in the movies, especially when she lost two choice roles in the 2 first Batman movies.
There is not much more to say than this is only entertaining in the first part of the movie, mainly because there are so many great one-liners from Murray but the whole second part involving a missing tank falls flat because this is not "War Games" and to make this into something that it's not is just a shame.