Volunteers
People often forget that before Tom Hanks became the Oscar favorite dramatic actor he is today, he was one of the sharpest and quickest witted comedy stars of the 80s, and this 1985 film is sadly one of his most overlooked and underrated entries of the era. Playing a rich, snobby, Yale graduate (complete with hoity-toity Ivy League accent and ultra-hot preppie girlfriend), he soon finds himself way in over his head with gambling debts which leaves him no choice but to flee the country by joining the Peace Corps in 1962. Right from the start the movie is hitting comedic high notes, from Hanks winning a card game against a roomful of black thugs, to the interaction with his father, who asks to be allowed the fantasy of having adopted him from the orphanage, and the comic pace keeps it up as he flies to Thailand to fulfill his reluctant duties (āItās not that I canāt help these people. Itās just that I donāt want to.ā). Soon he gets caught up in a neat spoof of Bridge On The River Kwai by teaching the villagers to build a bridge that also would prove to be most beneficial to not only the CIA, but a Commie guerilla squad and an opium-dealing warlord. Joining him in the cast is John Candy as a blabbermouthed fellow recruit, and while Candy is wasted in his early scenes, when he gets captured by the Commies and (very quickly) brainwashed to join their cause, he brings some edgy hilarity to the film, especially with his maniacal laugh; Rita Wilson plays the pretty volunteer whom Hanks shamelessly puts the moves on, causing her to resist until a bit of an unconvincing turn later on (though the fact remains that Hanks and Wilson fell in love in real life and were later married, thus making their chemistry real); Tim Thomerson as the Peace Corps boss with an unhealthy attachment to his hunting knife (which he calls āMikeā); Gedde Watanabe (best known as Long Duk Dong) as the only villager who can speak English who becomes Hanksā sidekick for much of the film; George Plimpton as Hanksā pompous father (the way he offers the loan shark a five year payment plan for his sonās debts complete with interest is hilariously obtuse); plus Xander Berkeley as the friend Hanks switches places with on the plane and Shakti as the gorgeous but deadly bodyguard for the druglord. Director Nicholas Meyer brings a different vibe to the material than most 80s comedy directors, especially in the fearless way that Hanks is portrayed as a shamelessly rich asshole all the way through, yet still likable enough to keep the viewer rooted in him, plus the occasional use of surrealism and action adventure references (like the Temple Of Doom-style compound of the druglord). Unlike say, the recently reviewed Club Paradise, the film manages to be a metaphor for Cold War relations in the 80s while still managing to be very funny, like having the Commies march along to Candyās college fight song to the ridiculously funny chase sequence around the druglordās compound (especially the sumo guardsā unhealthy interest in Watanabe). Subtle at times while at others laugh out loud funny, the writing is easily the strongest thing about the film, save for the ending, which leaves such an unresolved plot hole involving the villains that even a three year old could point it out. Still, a film that deserves to be more well-known today than it is, particularly for fans of Hanks, Candy, and 80s comedy in generalā¦
8/10