Simply Perfect

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

The acting in this movie is really good.

It is a whirlwind of delight --- attractive actors, stunning couture, spectacular sets and outrageous parties. It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.

Some of the posters couldn't seem to grasp that the comedy was not in the way the movie was scripted but in the acts of many of those responsible for the design of the Bradley. It was a comedy of errors that only two people wanted to correct and were fought tooth and nail, all the way. General Smith put it the most accurately when Lt. Col. Burton asked him to whom the enemy was when he said "To majors who want to be colonels, to colonels who want to be generals, to generals who want that fourth star, you bet we are the enemy! Nobody moves up without getting things done! So what you don't want to be is the one who drops the ball, 'cause if you're the one who drops the ball: no promotion! no star! no cushy job with a contract when you retire!" No one wants to be that person to throw a monkey wrench into the process and all too often, we see our leaders putting their own interest ahead of those whose lives depend on their equipment. The story in the movie about the M-16 rifle was a perfect example.

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie, it's quite clever and amusing and keeps a good pace. The disturbing thing is there's usually not some crusader to put the brakes on something like this. The movie really fails to deal with the motivations of the people who so unethically push the project through; they must have some rational for their actions, which could result in untold deaths, but we never hear an explanation. So it's not an in depth analysis, and I'd love to see a documentary on the same subject, but it's quite enjoyable.

**Here be spoilers**Comedy? Where? Lt.Colonel Burton (Cary Elwes) get an assignment to investigate a project to develop the new troop-carrier Bradley, a project we soon learn that has been going on for almost two decades resulting in a freak vehicle. Of course, the officers in charge of the project Maj. General Partridge (Kelsey Grammer), Col. J.D. Block (John C McGinley) and Maj. William Sayers (Tom Wright), is determined to finalize the project and start producing the vehicle, no matter the vehicle is a major disaster. These officers are so determined so they refuse to do full testing of the vehicle, knowing it would give disastrous results. Burton on the other hand soon discover the true nature of the vehicle and demands that full live tests should be done. The tests is then sabotaged by Block and Sayers, giving no good results even if it is evident that the vehicle is a danger to anybody except possibly the enemy. From his end Partridge works behind the scenes frequently relocate Burton to stop his investigation. Finally all result in a hearing with a senate committee.The plot contains no suspense at all, and is totally predictable, especially since the story jumps back and forth in time giving good clues how it all ends. Before I watched the movie I read a brief review of the plot, and saw it was listed as a comedy, I had some expectations. I was hoping for hoaxes and fun twists, something alike "Sgt. Bilko" with Steve Martin and "Down Periscope" with Kelsey Grammer himself. In addition I saw that the cast featured at least three persons that have proven themselves within the comedy genre, I am of course thinking of Grammer, Elwes and McGinley.I was very disappointed, since I can't really find anything funny with this movie. There are no outright jokes, the way the tests are sabotaged are not funny or even somewhat clever. Actually I can not imagine how this was called a comedy. The war-genre might apply, even if we see absolutely no war action (except some historical images in the introduction), otherwise, drama is much better in my opinion.The cast is neither good or bad, seem to have been another day at work for most of them. Nothing spectacular, nobody rises above the thin material, no one a disappointment either.Just let this one go quietly into some archive, lost to history.3/10

Three Brigadier Generals, sitting at a table in 1968-time, being presented the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. All their single stars were worn correctly, centered on the epaulet. Of course it is only one scene because in the next, they are all Major Generals. It is nice to see a film with an actual military advisor who knows his stuff.