Review of 1941 (1941) by Jeff M — 03 Feb 2004

[size=3]A notorious flop (one of the few in Steven Spielberg's career), [i]1941 [/i]is actually founded on a relatively interesting "what-if" idea: it is a loud, zany comedy about the reaction of panic in California after the news of Pearl Harbour reaches the mainland. What is surprising about [i]1941 [/i]is that, thematically, it is actually a relatively sophisticated anti-war comedy...and one that seems more relevant today considering the panic that gripped the nation after September 11th. Watching this film, one gets the sense that Spielberg and his screenwriters (Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale) are taking devilish glee in mocking the ridiculousness of American machismo, paranoia, and aggression. In many ways, actually, [I]1941[/I] is one of Spielberg's most mature films...it feels like the work of an adult intelligent enough to embrace his juvenile nature, while some of Spielberg's serious fare (such as [I]Amistad[/I]) gives the sense of a kid trying to sit at the grown-ups table. Unfortunately, Spielberg and his writers are often very clumsy in executing their gags...we can see some of the slapstick coming a mile away. The result is a very uneven comedy that contains some brilliant moments (such as the Jitterbug sequence) but far too often falls flat on its face. Still, even though the first half-hour of [I]1941[/I] tests one's patience, the film gets better (and a lot funnier) as it goes along. Zemeckis later said that the creation of [i]1941[/i] was akin to letting the "inmates run the asylum", and indeed one of the redeeming virtues of [i]1941[/i] is the way it completely abandons itself to chaos and insanity (sort of like a [i]Monty Python [/i]film). Dismissed as one of the worst films in Spielberg's canon, [I]1941[/I] today seems considerably more successful...it shows us that Spielberg is capable of directing a hilarious comedy, even if he didn't quite succeed in this attempt.[/size].

[size=3](BASIC) [/size].