MCHALE'S NAVY
A film review by Chuck Dowling
Copyright 1997 Chuck Dowling
McHale's Navy (1997) **1/2 out of ***** - Cast: Tom Arnold, Dean Stockwell, Tim Curry, Bruce Campbell, Ernest Borgnine, David Alan Grier, French Stewart, Debra Messing, Tommy Chong. Written By: Peter Crabbe. Directed By: Brian Spicer. Running Time: 108 minutes.
Darn it all, I like Tom Arnold. While I agree that he's much better as a supporting character ("True Lies", "Nine Months"), unlike the rest of America I think he can be a competent lead as well ("Big Bully", "The Stupids"). He stars as Quinton McHale in "McHale's Navy", and while it's certainly not great, it's not all the bad either. Most of the time, it's just frustrating.
"McHale's Navy" is the latest Hollywood remake of classic TV show. McHale is retired from the navy and spends his days in the Carribbean, trying to concoct any scheme possible to make money. On the flip side, he also coaches a little league baseball team. His old crew, your stereotypical bunch of losers and misfits (honestly, how do people like this even make it INTO the military?) suddenly find themselves with a new commanding officer (Stockwell), who is your stereotypical uptight, by-the-book, always looking to get ahead in any way possible military authority.
Elsewhere in those islands, terrorists (led by a too silly Tim Curry) are hatching some sort of evil scheme to rule the world. Curry's character is constantly referred to as the second most deadly terrorist in the world, making you think that maybe the world's MOST deadly terrorist may show up soon, but alas, he doesn't. Everything is standard from that point on.
Two things keep this film from being good. First is the basic plot. Why does this need to be yet another slightly comical world domination story? The original series lasted for years with plots I'm sure were more like "A private misplaces McHale's laundry." Just a simple story with some good laughs would have been just fine. Second is the script. At times the script was so frustrating that I wanted to just pummel the writer. The movie's flowing along, light-hearted, breezy, ready for comedy. One or two jokes blow by, which were amusing, and then we get smacked in the face with some absolutely absurd sightgag or situation that is so mindnumbingly UNFUNNY that we forget the mild amusement from seconds before. Notice that both of these problems are the fault of the writing, not of the actors.
The supporting cast, for the most part, fares well. Stockwell for some reason seems to be doing an impression of Johnny Carson's Art Fern character, which may be how the character talked in the TV series, but it seems out of place here considering the character he plays. Tommy Chong, in a very brief role, is ok, but I've been hearing him in interviews blasting former comedy partner Cheech Marin for "selling out". Well what do you call your role here Mr. Chong? Most puzzling though is Bruce Campbell. Clearly he's the most talented man in the cast as every scene he's in is just a bit better than the others. But he's eighth or ninth billing and given absolutely nothing to do. When will someone realize that Bruce Campbell is a very interesting actor with a distinctive personality which sets him apart from just any regular actor? Either Campbell is completely happy with working only bit parts in small movies, he has the worst agent in the world, or he's unbelievably difficult to work with.
"McHale's Navy" had potential, but it just took itself too seriously. If it had just had a simple plot without the silly villain or overbearing commanding officer, it may have been much better. I still like Tom Arnold, and this film's lack of success is certainly not his fault. [PG]
-- Chuck Dowling Visit Chuck's Movie Reviews at http://users.southeast.net/~chuckd21/ Over 1,600 movies rated and/or reviewed! Movie news, film related links, and reader's reviews.
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