When Williams is on, the movie can be fairly funny; when he's not, it's too somber for its own good.
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The first time Buena Vista issued this movie on DVD, it was a bare-bones affair, with little more than an opening menu and some chapter selections. This time out, the studio has gone the extra mile and not only included a few bonus items, but improved the video quality on the disc as well. Do the words "about time" mean anything? Anyway, it's a welcome improvement.
"Gooooooooood morning, Vietnam!"
Robin Williams' films basically fit into two categories: Those in which he plays characters different from himself ("Awakenings," "Good Will Hunting," "One-Hour Photo") and those in which he plays himself. His 1987 release "Good Morning, Vietnam" falls into the latter classification. Williams plays a nonconformist deejay, Adrian Cronauer, whose anarchic personality allows the actor the chance to perform at a seemingly spontaneous level throughout much of the film.
When Williams is on, the movie can be fairly funny; when he's not, it's too somber for its own good. Although the film is more funny than not, and although it has gathered quite a loyal fan base since its release, on viewing it again for maybe the fourth time, I found the humor starting to wane and the messages starting to grate.
The story is set in Saigon, 1965, at the outset of the Vietnam conflict, a "police action" that would escalate into a full-fledged war over the next ten years. Cronauer, a character based on a real-life person, is an airman brought in to entertain the troops via the local Armed Forces radio station. The general (Noble Willingham) thinks Cronauer is funny; the Lieutenant and Sgt.-Major in charge of the station don't. They think he's out of control, no matter what the general or every combat soldier who listens to him thinks.
Williams is undoubtedly more manic than the real Cronauer ever was, and he's not exactly held on a tight leash. The real-life Cronauer became famous for being the first deejay to play rock 'n' roll music in Vietnam and for developing the "Good morning, Vietnam" sign-on. But the movie Cronauer is pure Robin Williams, and it's hard to believe that any radio announcer could keep up the steady steam of clever banter that Williams does hour after hour, day after day. The whole routine becomes, in fact, more than a little hard to believe, making Cronauer, like most of the characters in the movie, more caricatures than fleshed-out human beings.
Yet playing caricatures or not, the supporting cast are excellent. Bruno Kirby plays Lt. Hauk, Cronauer's immediate supervisor, as a dull, nerdy, straight-arrow type who fancies himself a comic. "In my heart, I know I'm funny." He's frustrated at everybody because nobody respects him, least of all his men. The late, great character actor J.T. Walsh plays the villain of the story, Sgt.-Major Dickerson, a humorless, mean-spirited hard-ass who used to be a commander in the Special Forces but was reassigned to the radio station for vague medical reasons. He obviously resents it and still wants to order everyone around, including Lt. Hauk.
In a subplot, Cronauer falls for the most beautiful girl in Vietnam, Trinh, played by Chintara Sukapatana. She is charming but has little to do with the story. More to the point is her brother, Tuan, played by Phan Duc To, who tries early on to protect his sister from the guy, Cronauer, whom he considers a phony. But as things go on, Tuan and Cronauer become best friends, leading to further trouble along the way.
Of special note is Forest Whitaker as Pvt. Edward Montesque Garlick, Cronauer's assistant in Vietnam, and probably the only non-caricature in the film. Williams may be the center of attention, but it's really Whitaker who holds the movie together as a good-natured, down-to-earth foil for the star. Without Whitaker, we have only Williams going on at length, surrounded by a heavy-handed story line.
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[release]17960[/release]