In the Army Now

In the Army Now (1994)

* 1/2 (out of 4)

Bones (Pauly Shore) and Jack (Andy Dick) decide to join the Army so that they can make some quick cash, which they plan to use for an endevor they have. However, the two didn't realize that you'd have to do real work in the Army and as soon as basic training is over they are called to battle.

Comedian Shore started to rise to fame with ENCINO MAn and SON IN LAW made him a star. His time at the top wasn't too long as IN THE ARMY now was followed by a string of bombs including JURY DUTY and BIO-DOME. These three films pretty much killed his career and his name over the title days were over.

I enjoyed Shore in the first two films that I mentioned but there's no question that this act didn't work too well. IN THE ARMY NOW is certainly better than the two films that were to follow but there's no question that there's not too much here. Five screenwriters are given credit for this mess, which is pretty much a stoner version of STRIPES where a couple misfits join the Army not knowing what they're getting into.

Shore and Dick can work apart but put them together and you've got some pretty annoying attempts at humor. The one saving grace in the film was Lynn Witfield as the sexy drill instructor who gets several jokes thrown her way. Lori Petty and David Alan Grier are both wasted in thankless roles. Sadly, the screenplay does very little and it certainly delivers very few laughs.

The problem with a film like IN THE ARMY NOW is that it seems the filmmakers thought you could be annoying as possible and this would lead to some laughs. Sadly, it didn't and you're just left with a comedy that has very few laughs.

It's Pauly Shore. It is what it is. However, i do have one, personally infamous issue with this movie. Oh sure, i can laugh about it now b/c it was so long ago, but at the time, i could have beat Pauly Shore with any number of garden tools. you see... I was going through basic training for the Army at Ft. Sill in 1994 and was "asked" by my drill sergeant's to be one of the unwittingly captive extras out there running in place in the "EXTEND TO THE LEFT---MARCH!!!" scene. That's right, sports fans, i was one of those poor souls kept out of bed until the wee hours of the morning so that Mr. Shore could have his early morning Army PT scene. Only it wasn't early morning. It was filmed in about three takes between the hours of 2000 and 2400. That's 9:00p.m. 'til midnight. For those or us who know, sleep in basic training is a rare and valued commodity and Mr. Shore took about four of the six hours i got away that night. So, needless to say, my fellow recruits and I didn't much care for Mr. Shore, especially at 0300 the next morning when the training day started. we somehow got through it but never really got over it. It wasn't until a few years later that I finally got to watch the movie. That infamous scene comes on and guess what I see. I see my bald-headed self out there running in place clear as day...well, night. It's only for maybe three seconds, but it's long enough to be confirmed by a number of people. So, there it is, three seconds of my fifteen minutes of fame used in a Pauly Shore movie. wow.

Although there's a lot of people who don't like Pauly Shore, apparently you either love him or hate him, I have to say that I found this film quite amusing. It takes me back to my younger days when I was a weekend warrior. The group I hung out with I'm afraid, all people who were trying to get out of the real army and Vietnam joined the reserves as I did. We were about as military a group as Pauly Shore, Andy Dick, and David Alan Grier. Back then though we were not side by side with Lori Petty. The Army in its infinite wisdom knew better than to activate our crowd for Vietnam.

But that's not what happens here. Pauly Shore and Andy Dick are a pair of misfits in civilian life and find they have a cash flow problem. That extra money for attending those Army Reserve drills sounds pretty enticing so they decide to be all that they can be on the weekends and two weeks in the summer.

But Libya and Chad go to war and like the Iraqi Desert Storm, the reserves are called up for a United Nations multi-national force. Actually Libya and Chad did have border conflicts for many years with the French attacking as protectors for Chad. Pauly, Andy, and their new friends David Alan Grier and Lori Petty are in the Sahara Desert as part of a water purification team, water boys as they're derisively called by those in the real army.

In The Army Now revives all the basic service comedy situations going all the way back to Abbott&Costello in Buck Privates. Especially in the training sequences. Pauly Shore and Andy Dick probably grew up on Bud&Lou, but they do the routines with a Generation X twist.

I liked the film and thanked God I was not in the situations that Pauly and the rest were in.

I know most people find Pauly Shore (Bio-Dome, Encino Man) to be really annoying. He can be extremely annoying, but he can also be truly funny. In the movie In the Army Now, Shore plays another one of his likable loser characters. He and his best friend, played by Andy Dick (TV's News Radio) just got fired from their jobs and need money. So they both enlist in the Army Reserves assuming they will never have to do anything. During the movie they meet some new friends, Lori Petty (Tank Girl, The Glass Shield) and David Alan Grier (McHale's Navy). Pauly Shore and Andy Dick decide to join the water purification unit and Shore displays a real talent for that. Of course, a war starts and they get sent into Libya to help out the troops by purifying water if needed. The film is actually very funny and had me laughing consistently, Shore stays away from being too annoying. Andy Dick is just as funny as he is on NewsRadio. Petty and Grier are also funny. I recommend this for Shore fans and those who want a good impression of him.

Bones and Jack are two ne'er-do-well best friends who work odd jobs to support themselves, but really have dreams of opening their own store. Out of work and looking to make some extra cash, they enlist in the U.S. Army Reserves where they sign up to be water purification specialists. Little do they dream that they'll be sent on active duty after conflict erupts in the country of Chad. Dry comedy has its moments and is likely to please fans of its star, but it's never uproarious and never really exploits the premise for all it's worth. In most cases actor Shore is an acquired taste, but he's enjoyable and adds life here. **