Another weekend, another slate of big summer blockbusters (and a few big summer flops) coming out on the pre-Independence Day (and in 1996, pre-Independence Day) weekend.
One Year Ago--June 26, 2020:
#1 Movie:
Zootopia (unofficial)/Becky (official)
New Theatrical Releases:
The Last Tree--$0.01 million/273/98%/67--After spending his childhood in rural England with his white foster mother (Denise Black), a Nigerian-British young boy (Tai Golding) is thrust into a different world when his birth mother (Gbemisola Ikumelo) reclaims him and brings him to her run-down London apartment. When he reaches his teenage years, the boy (now played by Samuel Adewunmi) dabbles in petty crime while trying to figure out exactly who he is. This autobiographical drama got rave reviews in both the UK and in North America.
Director: Shola Amoo
Irresistible--NA/NA/41%/47--For his second film as a director, Jon Stewart recruited his former Daily Show colleague Steve Carrell to play a Democratic campaign consultant who, impressed by the pro-immigration speech given by a retired Marine (Chris Cooper) in a small town in Wisconsin, decides to persuade him to run for mayor, with him running the campaign, only to be surprised when a Republican consultant (Rose Byrne) arrives to lead the campaign of the incumbent (Brent Sexton). Stewart was able to secure an all-star supporting cast including Will Sasso, Topher Grace, Natasha Lyonne, Debra Messing, and Mackenzie Davis, but critics felt the satire was weak, especially coming from Stewart. Focus declined to release the film's box office totals, though it is estimated to have earned about $0.5 million.
Director: Jon Stewart
My Spy--NA/NA/49%/46--A not-very-subtle CIA agent (Dave Bautista) is assigned to surveil a woman (Parisa Fitz-Henley) whose late husband might have hidden the plans for a nuclear bomb with her and away from his arm-dealer brother (Greg Bryk). However, he and his partner (Kristen Schaal) are quickly discovered by Fitz-Henley's young daughter (Chloe Coleman), who proceeds to blackmail Bautista into teaching her how to be a spy. Ken Jeong co-stars. This comedy (which got a PG-13 despite being sold as a family film) bounced repeatedly across the schedule before ending up going straight-to-Amazon Prime (with a limited same-day theatrical release). Critics weren't impressed, but the film became a surprise smash on streaming sites.
Director: Peter Segal
New Streaming Releases:
Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga--63%/50--The Eurovision Song contest, a big deal in Europe but barely known in America, is the subject of this Netflix comedy that stars Will Ferrell and Rachel McAdams as the members of a bar band in rural Iceland, who, through an improbable series of events, find themselves in the Eurovision finals. Dan Stevens, Demi Lovato, Graham Norton, and Pierce Brosnan co-star. Reviews were mixed, but it did well on the service. It would receive an Oscar nomination for its Origianl Song "Husavik"
Director: David Dobkin
New Re-Releases:
Zootopia--NA/NA
Five Years Ago--June 24, 2016:
#1 Movie:
Finding Dory--$73 million
New Wide Releases:
Independence Day: Resurgence--2/$41 million/$103.1 million/27/30%/32--1996's Independence Day was the biggest hit of the year. The 20-years-later sequel...wasn't. After 20 years, the aliens return to Earth to finish the job, and the surviving humans have to once again rally to defeat the invaders before they successfully destroy the world. Many of the actors whose characters survive the first film return, including Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Judd Hirsch, Vivica A. Fox, Brent Spiner, and Robert Loggia (who had died six months before. This would be his final major film), but notably, not Will Smith. Newcomers included Liam Hemsworth, Jessie T. Usher, Sela Ward, William Fincher, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Joey King, and Mckenna Grace. Critics, who hadn't been too crazy about the first one, trashed the sequel, and audiences couldn't get past the Smith-sized hole in the cast, making this one of the numerous many-years-later sequels in 2016 that bombed.
Director: Roland Emmerich
The Shallows--4/$16.8 million/$55.1 million/61/78%/59--A medical student (Blake Lively) surfing in Mexico is trapped on a rock just offshore by a ferocious great white shark, who is determined to make her his dinner. She has to figure out, with her limited resources, how to evade the shark and get herself back to shore. This thriller got better-than-expected reviews and proved to be a sleeper summer hit.
Director: Jaume Collet-Serra
Free State of Jones--6/$7.6 million/$20.8 million/104/48%/53--Matthew McConaughey starred in this historical drama, based rather loosely on a true story, as a disillusioned Confederate solder from Mississippi who organizes other disgruntled solders and escaped slaves into a fighting force to resist the Confederacy and declare a portion of Mississippi seceded from the secession. Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Mahershala Ali, and Keri Russell co-star. Critical response explained why a film that could easily have been an Oscar bait movie was released in the middle of the summer, and audiences largely gave it a cold shoulder.
Director: Gary Ross
New Limited Releases:
Swiss Army Man--$4.2 million/163/72%/64--In what my be the weirdest, most surreal film of 2016 to feature well-known actors, Paul Dano played a man stuck on an desert island when he comes across a corpse (Daniel Radcliffe), who, let's just say, has special abilities that most corpses do not. Together the two escape from the island and attempt to journey back to civilization. Mary Elizabeth Winstead co-stars. Reviewers were fairly positive toward the film, and it proved to be an art-house hit.
Director: Dan Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
Ten Years Ago--July 1, 2011:
New Wide Releases:
Transformers: Dark of the Moon--1/$97.9 million/$352.4 million/2/35%/42--The third installment of the blockbuster franchise about giant robots fighting each other sees the heroic Autobots and the villainous Decepticons once again fighting each other, this time over MacGuffins left on the moon. Shia LeBeouf stars as the lead human for the third and final time, joined by returning actors John Turturro, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson, Kevin Dunn, and Julie White, all of whom, like LeBeouf, would not be back for the fourth installment, though Turturro and Duhamel would return for #5. Newcomers to the series included Rosie Huntington-Whiteley (replacing the absent Megan Fox as LeBeouf's love interest), Patrick Dempsey, John Malkovich, Alan Tudyk, Ken Jeong, and Frances McDormand. Among the robot voices were Peter Cullen, Hugo Weaving, James Remar, Tom Kenny, John DiMaggio, Frank Welker, and Leonard Nimoy. Like its predecessors, this was huge, loud, critically derided, and made a ton of money, though the fact the it ended up grossing less than 2009's Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen might have prompted the cast turnover for the next installment, which came out in 2014. It would receive three Oscar nominations, for Sound Mixing, Sound Editing, and Visual Effects.
Director: Michael Bay
Larry Crowne--4/$13.1 million/$35.6 million/90/37%/41--Pretty much the opposite of Transformers in terms of noise level and box office--though surprisingly not critical reaction--was this dramedy starring, co-written, and directed by Tom Hanks, who plays Larry who, after being laid off, decides to return to college, where he strikes up a platonic friendship with the much-younger Gugu Mbatha-Raw (in her first major film role), while finding he is attracted to his unhappily married speech professor (Julia Roberts). Hanks managed to recruit a very impressive supporting cast, including Wilmer Valderrama, Pam Grier, Cedric the Entertainer, Taraji P. Henson, Bryan Cranston, Rami Malek, George Takei, Grace Gummer, Rob Riggle, and Randall Park, along with wife Rita Wilson and co-writer Nia Vardalos. Despite the star power, critics were dismissive, and so were audiences, as this would be the lowest-grossing film with Hanks as a lead since 1990's The Bonfire of the Vanities. This remains, to the present day, Hanks's last directing effort.
Director: Tom Hanks
Monte Carlo--6/$7.5 million/$23.2 million/113/40%/43--This family-friendly vehicle for then-Disney Channel star Selena Gomez in a Prince and a Pauper riff as a recent high-school graduate visiting Paris with her best friend (Katie Cassidy) and older sister (Leighton Meester) when she gets mistaken for a British heiress (also Gomez) and the trio find themselves whisked to the titular area in Monaco and a charity ball. Hijinks ensue. Cory Monteith, Pierre Boulanger, Luke Bracey, Catherine Tate, Brett Cullen, and Andie MacDowell co-star. Critics reacted to this one as they reacted to the other July 4th weekend releases, and the film didn't attract much business.
Director: Thomas Bezucha
New Limited Releases:
Terri--$0.7 million/235/87%/72--In this well-received indie comedy-drama, the titular character, an outcast high school kid (Jacob Wysocki), forms an unexpected friendship with the school's assistant principal (John C. Reilly) and two other unpopular kids (Bridger Zadina and Olivia Crocicchia) and they try to navigate high school together. Creed Bratton and Tim Heidecker co-star. Despite solid reviews, this failed to break out of art houses.
Director: Azazel Jacobs
Fifteen Years Ago--June 30, 2006:
New Wide Releases:
Superman Returns--1/$52.5 million/$200.1 million/6/75%/72--With the X-Men series and the previous year's Batman Begins showing that superhero movies were coming back into fashion, director Bryan Singer, who had directed the first two X-Men movies, directed what was marketed as a continuation of the 1970s/80s Superman movies that starred Christopher Reeve. Brandon Routh, who had mostly done TV work prior to this, was selected to play Superman, who returns to Earth after being gone for years looking for the remains of Krypton, where he has to once again tangle with Lex Luthor (Kevin Spacey) who has a plan that could cause the death of billions, while also wondering exactly who the father of Lois Lane's (Kate Bosworth) young son (Tristan Lake Leabu) is. James Marsden, Frank Langella, Eva Marie Saint, Kal Penn, Sam Huntington, and Parker Posey co-star. The film did better with both critics and audiences than its reputation suggests; however, it did underperform, which led to Warners choosing not to continue the franchise, and instead reboot it completely with 2012's Man of Steel. The Visual Effects would be Oscar nominated.
Director: Bryan Singer
The Devil Wears Prada--2/$27.5 million/$124.7 million/17/75%/62--On the other hand, this comedy's reputation has only grown over the proceeding decade and a half since its release. Anne Hathaway starred as an aspiring journalist who lands a job as the assistant of New York's most powerful fashion editor (Meryl Streep), despite knowing nothing about fashion. After a rough start, she eventually begins to learn about the world she's become part of and starts to earn more responsibility. Emily Blunt, in her first major American film, Stanley Tucci, Simon Baker, Adrian Grenier, Daniel Sunjata, Gisele Bündchen, Heidi Klum, and James Naughton co-star. The film would become a surprise hit, and the film would receive two Oscar nominations, for the Costumes, and Streep for Best Actress.
Director: David Frankel
New Limited Releases:
The Motel--$0.1 million/423/88%/70--This acclaimed but little-seen comedy-drama stars 13-year-old Jeffrey Chyau, in his only film appearance to date, as a teenager working at his family's low-rent motel, when he's taken under the wing of new guest Sung Kang (also in The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift), who helps him navigate some of the rockier aspects of early adolescence while trying to rebuild his own life.
Director: Michael Kang
Twenty Years Ago--June 29, 2001:
New Wide Releases:
A.I. Artificial Intelligence--1/$29.4 million/$78.6 million/28/75%/65--Stanley Kubrick started work on adapting a short story about a human-like boy robot in the early 1970s, before eventually giving the project to Steven Spielberg, who only put this into active production after Kubrick's 1999 death. Haley Joel Osmet played the young robot, whose programming gives him the ability to love. After being rejected by his "mother" (Frances O'Connor), he goes on a quest to, like Pinocchio, be turned into a real boy, accompanied by a talking teddy bear (voiced by Jack Angel) and a male prostitute robot (Jude Law). Sam Robards, Jake Thomas, Brendan Gleeson, Clark Gregg, Enrico Colantoni, Kathryn Morris, Adrian Grenier, and William Hurt co-star, with vocal cameos from Robin Williams, Ben Kingsley, Chris Rock, and Meryl Streep. The film earned wildly mixed reactions from critics, and audiences, after a solid opening weekend, largely stayed away, making the film somewhat of a box office disappointment, though its reputation has grown over the years. It would be nominated for two Oscars, for Visual Effects and Score.
Director: Steven Spielberg
Baby Boy--5/$8.6 million/$28.7 million/81/71%/55--10 years after Boyz N the Hood, director John Singleton returned to South Central Los Angeles for this less successful drama about a young man (Tyrese Gibson, in his film debut) juggling multiple girlfriends (including Taraji P. Henson, in her first major film) while trying to decide what kind of life he should lead. Snoop Dogg, Omar Gooding, Adrienne-Joi Johnson, Mo'Nique, and Ving Rhames co-star. Critics were respectful, but most weren't too enthusiastic, and the film would only do moderate business.
Director: John Singleton
Crazy/Beautiful--9/$4.7 million/$16.9 million/109/63%/61--Rich girl Kristen Dunst, who is primarily interested in partying, meets studious athlete Jay Hernandez (in his first major film), who is working toward the Naval Academy and a career as a pilot, and the two fall for each other. The relationship seems to be good for her, but bad for him, as his commitment to his grades begins to slip. Bruce Davison and Taryn Manning co-star. The romantic drama got decent reviews, but got lost amid the much bigger summer movies surrounding it.
Director: John Stockwell
New Limited Releases:
Pootie Tang--$3.3 million/162/27%/31--Both critics and audiences were flabbergasted at this Blaxploitation spoof, spun off from a recurring sketch on Chris Rock's HBO show, in which the titular Pootie (Lance Crouther) fights crime and against the dark forces of evil corporate honcho Robert Vaughn. The film, which was Louis C.K.'s one major theatrical directorial credit until the still-unreleased I Love You Daddy, was able to attract a cast that was impressive then and even more impressive now, including J. B. Smoove, Jennifer Coolidge, Wanda Sykes, Reg E. Cathey, Dave Attell, Laura Kightlinger, Missy Elliott, David Cross, Andy Richter, Kristen Bell, Bob Costas, and Rock himself. Rejected by both critics and audiences, it would eventually earn a reputation as a cult classic, and was in the process of being reevaluated when C.K.'s string of sexual harassments came to light.
Director: Louis C.K.
Lumumba--$0.4 million/246/82%/78--This French-language biopic stars Eriq Ebouaney as Patrice Lumumba, who served as the first Prime Minister for the newly independent Republic of the Congo in 1960, until he ran afoul of the formerly ruling Belgians, the United States, and military leader and former comrade Joseph Mobutu, who would go on to become the country's absolute dictator for nearly 40 years. Despite critical acclaim, American audiences weren't interested in a subtitled movie about a long-dead African leader most had never heard of.
Director: Raoul Peck
Twenty-Five Years Ago--June 28, 1996:
New Wide Releases:
The Nutty Professor--1/$25.4 million/$128.8 million/8/64%/62--After reaching his then-career nadir with the previous fall's Vampire in Brooklyn, Eddie Murphy had a dramatic comeback with this remake of Jerry Lewis's 1963 riff on Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Murphy played the titular professor, who is brilliant and kind, but also morbidly obese. After being mercilessly insulted by a comic (Dave Chapelle) while out with a graduate student (Jada Pinkett), he decides to take the experimental weight loss formula he had been working on, which immediately turns him into--well, Eddie Murphy. Unfortunately, it also leaves him with the attitude of Eddie Murphy circa his "Party All the Time" days, and a war breaks out between the kind fat and obnoxious thin versions of Murphy for control of his body. Larry Miller, John Ales, and James Coburn co-star. Murphy got the best reviews he'd gotten in years, particularly for the scenes where he also played his own mother, father, brother, and grandmother. The result was Murphy's biggest hit since 1988's Coming to America and a re-direction of his career toward more family-friendly films. A sequel would follow in 2000. The film's impressive Makeup would win an Oscar.
Director: Tom Shadyac
Striptease--4/$12.3 million/$33.1 million/47/13%/37--Demi Moore (whose voice was also starring in The Hunchback of Notre Dame) got paid $12 million, a then-record amount for an actress, to star in this adaption of Carl Hiaasen's novel about a single mother who turns to stripping in order to afford her custody battle with her criminal ex-husband (Robert Patrick). A sleazy Congressman (Burt Reynolds) becomes infatuated with Moore, which gets her mixed up with mobsters and murders. Armand Assante, Ving Rhames (also that summer in Mission: Impossible), Siobhan Fallon, Paul Guilfoyle, Stuart Pankin, and 7-year-old Rumer Willis co-starred. Critics went to town on the film, complaining that Moore played the role way too seriously while everything else was a wacky comedy, and the film became one of the year's biggest flops, though at least it did better than Moore's last two live-action leading roles, in The Juror and The Scarlet Letter.
Director: Andrew Bergman
Thirty Years Ago--June 28, 1991:
New Wide Releases:
The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear--1/$20.8 million/$86.9 million/10/57%/65--Leslie Nielson returns as Frank Drebin, America's answer to Inspector Clouseau, as in this installment, he investigates the bombing at the research institute of an advocate for renewable energy (Richard Griffiths) who has the president's ear and also employs Nielson's ex (Pricilla Presley), who is dating oil tycoon Robert Goulet, who of course has nefarious plans for Griffiths. Also returning from the first film are George Kennedy, O.J. Simpson, and, in another brief cameo, "Weird Al" Yankovic. Of course, the plot is just an excuse to hang about a million sight gags, puns, wordplay, and other assorted jokes, along with a surprisingly potent pro-green energy message. Critics weren't nearly as amused with this one as they were with the original, but audiences turned out in even bigger numbers, as this was the highest-grossing entry in the franchise. A third installment would be released in 1994.
Director: David Zucker
New Limited Releases:
Europa Europa--$5.6 million/118/95%/75--During World War II, a German Jewish teenager (Marco Hofschneider) is separated from his family, and after spending time in a Russian orphanage, ends up being mistaken for an Aryan German and finds himself part of a Nazi regiment, and later, attending a Hitler Youth school. The problem is that, unlike most German men of the day, he is circumcised, meaning that every time he bathes or pees, his secret could be literally exposed. This also keeps him from being able to get intimate with his fervent Nazi girlfriend (Julie Delphy). Based on a true story, this not only got across-the-board raves, it was an art-house smash, becoming the highest-grossing foreign-language film in North America for 1991. After Germany declined to submit the film for the Foreign Language category at the Oscars, it would be nominated for Adapted Screenplay.
Director: Agnieszka Holland
Thirty-Five Years Ago--June 27, 1986:
#1 Movie:
The Karate Kid Part II--$8.9 million
New Wide Releases:
Ruthless People--4/$5.3 million/$71.6 million/9/93%/78--For their third and final directorial effort together, the team of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker switched from gag-a-minute genre spoofs to this (slightly) more realistic crime farce. Spoiled heiress Bette Midler is kidnapped by the desperate Judge Reinhold and Helen Slater, trying to get revenge on Midler's husband Danny DeVito, but he's overjoyed as he was planning to murder her. Meanwhile, DeVito's mistress (Anita Morris) and her himbo other boyfriend (Bill Pullman, in his film debut) plot to double-cross DeVito. William G. Schilling co-stars. After a slow start, the critically-acclaimed comedy would end up becoming one of the biggest hits of the year. Weirdly, this would be the second movie of 1986, after Down and Out in Beverly Hills, in which Midler played a rich, unlikable woman named Barbara who would become a nicer, better person through an extended encounter with someone much less better off than she was.
Director: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker
Running Scared--5/$5.2 million/$38.5 million/27/57%/49--In this action comedy, two Chicago cops (Billy Crystal, in his first lead role since 1978's quickly forgotten Rabbit Test, and Gregory Hines) decide to retire to Key West, but before they go, they decide to put their nemesis, drug kingpin Jimmy Smits (in his film debut) behind bars for good. Steven Bauer, Darlanne Fluegel, Joe Pantoliano, Jonathan Gries, Deanna Dunagan, and Dan Hedaya co-star. Despite decidedly mixed reviews, this became a mild hit.
Director: Peter Hyams
Labyrinth--8/$3.6 million/$12.7 million/66/74%/50--For his third and final feature film directorial effort, Jim Henson once again came up with an elaborate fantasy which, like 1982's The Dark Crystal, had nary a familiar Muppet in sight. After angrily wishing that her baby brother (Toby Froud) would be taken by the Goblin King (David Bowie), a teenage girl (Jennifer Connelly) discovers, to her horror, that her wish has come true, and she has only 13 hours to navigate the titular labyrinth to save him. Familiar Muppet performers who provided puppetry and/or voices include Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, Kevin Clash, and Brian Henson, with Kenny Baker and Warwick Davis appearing on set as goblins. The critical and commercial failure of the film led Henson to spend the rest of his life mostly working in TV, but it has since become a beloved cult hit. Froud, the son of two Henson employees who was one year old during production, grew up to be a professional puppet sculptor and designer, working for Laika and, coming full circle, The Jim Henson Company.
Director: Jim Henson
American Anthem--9/$1.9 million/$4.9 million/109/0%/NA--About a year after American Olympic gymnast Kurt Thomas tried and failed to become a movie star with Gymkata, American Olympic gymnast Mitch Gaylord tried and failed to become a movie star with this melodrama. He plays a top-notch gymnast (of course) who has quit the sport because of daddy issues. Will his new girlfriend (Janet Jones, best known for marrying hockey great Wayne Gretzky two years after this came out) convince him to rejoin the team and go for the gold? Of course she will! Critics howled, but not in a good way, and audiences soundly rejected it.
Director: Albert Magnoli
Forty Years Ago--June 26, 1981:
New Wide Releases:
Dragonslayer--$14.1 million/54/82%/68--Disney was attempting to change their image in the early 1980s, which is why they signed on to co-produce, with Paramount, this fantasy adventure in which a young apprentice wizard (Peter MacNicol, in his film debut) has to battle an evil dragon who terrorizes a medieval kingdom. Caitlin Clarke, Ian McDiarmid, and Ralph Richardson co-star. Despite solid reviews, this followed closely on the heels of Clash of the Titans which, along with spring release Excalibur (not to mention fantasy-adjacent films like Raiders of the Lost Ark and Superman II), seemed to satisfy audiences desires for fantasy, leading this to be a box office disappointment. However, like many fantasy films of the era, it would eventually become a cult hit. It would be nominated for two Oscars, for Visual Effects and Original Score.
Director: Matthew Robbins
For Your Eyes Only--$54.8 million/8/72%/54--After the Star Wars-inspired lunacy of 1979's Moonraker, the James Bond franchise decided to go for a more realistic approach for Roger Moore's fifth outing as 007. When a British ship with an all-important MacGuffin is sunk, Bond has to figure out just who is pulling the strings as numerous suspects, including Topol, Julian Glover, and Michael Gothard, emerge. Carole Bouquet, Lynn-Holly Johnson, and Cassandra Harris (at the time married to future Bond Pierce Brosnan) played the various Bond Girls, and returning from previous 007 outings were James Villiers, Desmond Llewelyn, and Lois Maxwell. The film got decent reviews (with most considering it an improvement over Moonraker), and strong box-office, albeit down from Moonraker's grosses. Moore, who had just spoofed his image in The Cannonball Run the week before, emerged as the only actor of 1981 to have prominent roles in two of the year's top 10 films. The titular Song, performed by Sheena Easton, would be Oscar-nominated. The next official entry in the Bond franchise, Octopussy, would come out in 1983.
Director: John Glen
The Great Muppet Caper--$31.2 million/21/74%/70--Five years before Labyrinth, Jim Henson made his official theatrical directing debut with this follow-up to 1979's The Muppet Movie, which does not share any continuity with the prior film. This time around, Kermit the Frog (Henson) and Fozzie Bear (Frank Oz) are reporters (and identical twins!) who, along with photographer Gonzo (Dave Goelz) are sent to London to report on the missing jewels of a famous fashion designer (Diana Rigg), whose own brother (Charles Grodin) is behind the heist. There, Kermit mistakes Miss Piggy (Oz) for Rigg and hijinks ensue as the quartet, along with the other Muppets, attempt to keep Grodin from pulling off the biggest heist of all. Other Muppet performers included Jerry Nelson, Richard Hunt, Steve Whitmire, and Caroll Spinney (cameoing as Oscar the Grouch), while human cameos included John Cleese, Peter Ustinov, Jack Warden, and Peter Falk. While this got decent reviews and box office, a lot of critics felt it was a letdown after The Muppet Movie, and it only ended up making half of what that film had done. Still, The Muppets Take Manhattan would follow in 1984. The Song "The First Time It Happens" would be Oscar-nominated.
Director: Jim Henson
Stripes--$85.3 million/5/88%/68--Bill Murray reunited with the directors of his two most recent hit movie projects, Meatballs's Ivan Reitman and Caddyshack's Harold Ramis, in the second smash-hit military comedy of the past year (after the previous fall's Private Benjamin), playing a Bill Murray-like wise-ass who, after a series of misfortunes, persuades his best friend (Ramis, in his theatrical acting debut) into joining the army, where they become leaders of their platoon full of misfits, much to the chagrin of their obnoxious drill sergeant (John Laroquette). Warren Oates played their commanding officer, P.J. Soles (who had also been in Benjamin) and Sean Young play their love interests, and Judge Reinhold and Ramis's SCTV co-star John Candy play platoon members. Fellow SCTVers Joe Flaherty and Dave Thomas have cameos, and Bill Paxton pops up in an early minor role. The film received mixed reviews (like Benjamin, critics thought the film fell apart after the story moved from basic training to assignment in Europe), but was the second-highest-grossing straight comedy of 1981. Three years later, Murray, Ramis, and Reitman would team up again for Ghostbusters.
Director: Ivan Reitman
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