Review of Stripes (1981) by Kevin D — 23 Apr 2016

If you haven't seen it and you're not sure if you want to, stop reading right now and sit down for an evening of silly nostalgic humour.

For those of you have seen it, you know how much this film has to offer in hilarity. Filmed just a year before I was born, this movie was always on the shelf at home, and when the parents were out, my brothers and I would put this on and laugh our butts off! Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, John Candy, and plenty of other well known actors started their cinema roots with this off kilter homage to a military that was still pristine in image and was known for making men out of even the most wimpy souls in America.

If you had nowhere else to go, no ambition, or nothing better to do, the army would put you through basic and make a man out of you! It was the perfect stage for a comedy like this one. A bunch of life's miscreants join up for their own individual and mostly stupid reasons, and come together to form one of the worst, miss-guided and downright terrible troops the U.S military ever produced. Not for lack of trying however, it's just... when you get bunch of lemons, it's hard to make champagne.

The jokes are silly of course, some fall flat, and most are out dated by most comedic standards, but that is what makes it so damn good! And for some reason this movie has like... 6 acts (It's a bit like 2 movies in one to be honest, the original in the first half, and a sequel covering the second half of the film). Yet it still holds its edge and lightheartedness against the rude and crude comedies of the 2000 era.

Grab a few beers, sit down, and try to remember that there was life before nightly terrorism updates, mortgage bubbles, and Justin Bieber. Simply Class.

3/5.