A Few Good Men

[CarlosFerreira 20]

The film that launched a thousand Internet memes! Stop me if you've heard this one:

 

Tom Cruise is a maverick US Navy officer, who on the outside is cocky and always goes his own way, but inside is permanently haunted by the memory of his father, a late and much-revered Navy officer himself, to whom his apparently-slacker son cannot hold a candle. Tom is surrounded by a competent, professional woman and a trustworthy friend, both of whom know that he can do better. When a tragedy happens, Tom will suffer a Road to Damascus-type conversion, and become the exceptional officer he has had the potential to be all along...

 

...except there is no camp singing on this one. Instead, what we have is Aaron Sorkin's writing tearing down the walls of silence and telling us what we actually think - and then dismantling that as well. Cruise plays Tom Cruise, which is always nice, and Kevin Bacon plays Kevin Bacon, which again is always fine. Jack Nicholson turns up in three scenes and chews the scenery so badly, the Academy gave him an Oscar just to make sure he didn't do the same with the red carpet. But it's actually Kevin Pollak and Demi Moore who steal the show, playing a weird double act as Tom's conscience throughout the movie.

 

I also feel that this is a film that has a lot to say about what we expect from our society these days, and which addressed the role of the State like few mainstream films have bothered (dared?) since 9/11. And all of it in a popcorn-friendly, Saturday-night-at-the-movies sort of way.

 

As I write this, I am painfully aware that we have just had another Rob Reiner film discussed in the podcast, but I would very much like to hear Davin and Amy's take on A Few Good Men.

[FilmFanMan 15]

...except there is no camp singing on this one. Instead, what we have is Aaron Sorkin's writing tearing down the walls of silence and telling us what we actually think - and then dismantling that as well.

 

...and kudos for resisting the temptation for throwing Cruise and Moore into bed during/after a long night of working together on the case.

 

I am a big fan of this one and would love to hear the discussion.

[Threshold 93]

The big themes I was interested in during the movie don't really occur until the last 20 minutes, and then it ends before it gets explored.

Until then, the Tom Cruise gear is so grating/boring, and it distracts from the sweet criticism on the toxic army-culture that seemed to be the only interesting thing pre-Jack speech that stood out to me.

 

All in all, s'ight

[CarlosFerreira 20]

 

...and kudos for resisting the temptation for throwing Cruise and Moore into bed during/after a long night of working together on the case.

 

Correct. It reminded me of Amy and Devin discussing how Tom Cruise is actually a relatively asexual screen presence.