Review of 1941 (1941) by Nigel L — 02 Jul 2008

Spielberg tries his hand at making a 1930s-esque screwball comedy, and just manages to pull it off. Yes, its overblown, its a mess with no direction, it lurches, staggers, blunders and crashes around on route to its spectacular (and very expensive looking) finale.

Its jokes may have a hit to miss ratio of about 1:1 (especially in the first hour), but where else can you find a Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee and Silm Pickens acting all looney in the same scene? Throw in Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi (in an great performance as Wild Bill Kelso), Robert Stack and a rousing Williams march and this movie manages to muster up a pretty hilarious comeback to make up for the mediocre beginning.

Overall its barely passable (and a big spectacle) and not the ultimate Spielberg bomb its reputation makes it out to be That (dis)honor goes to Hook. Plus, the Swing Swing Swing sequence is just a stunning cinematic achievement.