Very Cool!!!

It is both painfully honest and laugh-out-loud funny at the same time.

Each character in this movie — down to the smallest one — is an individual rather than a type, prone to spontaneous changes of mood and sometimes amusing outbursts of pettiness or ill humor.

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

I have to admit that I don't really understand where Ernest came from or why anyone thinks he should be in movies.I think he started out doing commercials that weren't funny so of course the Hollywood morons decided he was a superstar.That makes sense.Somehow I managed to make it this long without ever seeing an Ernest movie and now I know why.This movie has absolutely no plot or comedy.I don't think it's technically even a movie.Since I don't know the subtle nuances of the Ernest character, I can't be sure how much of the crap in this movie should have been expected.Was his best friend always in the Army?I guess I will never know.So anyway,his friend tells him he can drive if he joins the army but wanting a girlfriend is why he ends up joining.So he has no problem quickly joining the Army and is immediately driving.Did I mention that almost everyone in the Army wears a different uniform?None of them are even close to the same and most are very ill-fitting.At one point Ernest day dreams and he's wearing a uniform that has the gunnery sergeant stripes upside down.I'm sure everyone who ever served loved that.But Ernest doesn't even wear a uniform, he just wears his True Value vest.His commanding officer does a John Candy impression through the whole movie and it's almost never funny.As far as I can tell, the only joke in the movie was about gummy candy.It was not funny and didn't really make any sense.Did I mention that he joined the reserves who are immediately deployed on a peace keeping mission led by a British soldier?Or that everyone else in the reserves had a machine gun?Or that they left him on a beach and it just cuts to him being with them again?There's also some story line where some guys narrates his sad story and it makes the movie worse.It turns out his son is a black American who dresses like he's in Dexys Midnight Runners.Every other middle eastern person dresses appropriately yet this kid has somehow cobbled together a British hobo costume.If Varney hadn't died there would be 15 more of these terrible movies.Yay death!

Having served in the United States Army while this was in production, of course, I'll have a soft spot for this movie. Ernest was serving while I was serving. Pretty cool. Besides, it has Ernest(Varney). Two of my favorite one liners: "I'm poultry in motion" and "No ma'am, I'm Southern Baptist". Varney always gave 110% to his Ernest character and every other character he's portrayed. I do love his Sgt. Glory character and I'm glad to have seen more of him in not only this movie but in the "Hey, Vern! It's Ernest" series. I do realize that when this was made, Varney was suffering from lung cancer though didn't release the info until August of 1998. I really wanted to see 'Ernest the Pirate' and I heard it was almost through before he passed away. What a legend of a guy. Varney and Ernest were so interwoven together that he has made him irreplaceable. Shame on Cherry for trying out a 'New Ernest'. Ernest fans should get this. People who have served or are now serving in the military should get this. This movie had a lot of heart, just like all the Ernest movies did. At first, Ernest is conned into giving Ben-Ali money for a lucky charm but when Ernest saves Ben-Ali from bullies, he gives all his money back and befriends Ernest, who always seem to take in the disadvantaged kids in every movie. That's why we love Ernest. He's the underdog and wears his heart on the outside for the whole world to see. He always helped those who needed it most. He even helped those who ridiculed him. Jim 'Ernest' Varney will always live on. Of course, Ernest gets electrocuted, always a joy to watch. It never fails to make me laugh. R.I.P. Varney 1949-2000. You're still in our hearts. Your movies will always have a place in my DVD player.

I've always have loved Jim Varney's movies. He was a great actor and one of my heroes and he did good with the character of Ernest. I bought this movie on DVD at Downtown Disney and watched it. I thought that Jim gave a good performance and the plot seemed good but it didn't seem as good as the other Ernest films which I think what the problem was with this one was that they edited too much of Jim's scenes in this movie because I think during the production of this one was when he was starting to get sick with the cancer. Some of the movie was funny and it was pretty cool to see John R. Cherry III act as Ernest's buddy Ben but all in all it just didn't seem to fit the other Ernest movies in my opinion but Jim Varney did a good job playing Ernest one last time. R.I.P. JIM VARNEY 1949-2000! MY HERO!

Wow!! I never thought they could pull off another good "Ernest" movie after that horrible "Ernest Goes To Africa", but they did. In this installment, Ernest P. Worrell is a nit wit recruit in the army who goes to the front lines, and of course like other "Ernest" movies a LOT of hilarious stuff happens in the process!!Jim Varney pulls off another great performance as Ernest in what would be the last "Ernest" film, and one of Jim Varney's last projects (He died a few years later. I was sad when he died.). I recommend this one to any die-hard "Ernest" fan.