(645-word review) A shorter film was on my radar as a bit of a "break" from the longer-ish ones. I was more concerned with the shortness, which contributed to choosing this one. Initially, I was going to watch _How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days_, but I changed my mind. So, I used MovieLens and looked at similar ones/recommendations to _Weekend at Bernie's_, a film I enjoy immensely (nostalgia plays a significant part). This was among the recommendations, reminding me that I've come across it in the past.

But I was still expecting it to be mediocre, and its 1984 release probably had to do with it. _The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!_ and _Airplane!_ were at the back of my head because I didn't find those that funny, especially the latter. On the plus side, the former was entertaining, which went a long way.

And shockingly beyond measure, mediocre it was. It was massively unfunny in typical 1980s/1990s comedy/humor fashion to the point of confusion: wondering how its comedy could be perceived as funny, even back then. It barely managed to reach the threshold of being entertaining, either, as the first _Naked Gun_ film had on its side at the very least.

It wasn't abhorrently terrible, though. G.W. Bailey (whose enunciation seemed so similar to Laurence Fishburne) and George Gaynes (who looked slightly comparable to Lloyd Bridges but more so reminded me of him, particularly in _Hot Shots!_) gave good performances: enough for them to stand out.

George R. Robertson (Chief Hurst) also stood out (and looked/talked similarly to Jonathan Pryce) as the best part of the entire film, more or less, with only one major scene: with George Gaynes and G.W. Bailey. It says a lot when the peak is at the beginning somewhere, and there's a gradual decline further along; the final act was the worst – dare I say, abysmal.

Other decent enough parts were: this line ("Princess? Looks more like a prince to me.), the Blue Oyster bar running gag (the abrupt cut after their screams the second time was good), the stifling of laughter by the cadets after the horse incident (Michael Winslow's stifled-laughter face was sublime).

But other than that, most of the intended humor fell flat. Most notably: Michael Winslow, whose character's only purpose was doing sound effects. Hats off to him; it's a good talent, but it wasn't funny; he reminded me of Stephen Stucker (Johnny in _Airplane!_) in the sense of coming across as forced and incredibly unfunny, but apparently, nonsense like that was considered the peak of comedy in the 1980s-1990s.

Speaking of that film, which I've mentioned twice already, and while I'm on the subject of similarities, Carey Mahoney even reminded me of Ted Striker: but more significantly, he reminded me of Yossarian from _Catch-22_; in my case, the miniseries. Steve Guttenberg played the character in a way that seemed a mixture of both those characters/how Robert Hays and Christopher Abbott played them.

However, my main takeaway was the writing. Mahoney was trying to get kicked out of the academy, but some convenience was in-place, preventing that; Yossarian kept trying to get discharged (and avoid missions) but kept getting deterred by the bureaucracy and Army regulations, the Catch-22 of it all.

That makes me wonder how much better this film would've been if it was focused on Mahoney doing ridiculous and obvious things to try and get kicked out, slowly getting more fed up when nothing works. A perfect formula for good comedy, no? Especially if it ventures a little into the territory of a dark comedy. Instead, that aspect seemed irrelevant/short-lived: and a missed opportunity.

While it could've been worse, most of the humor is universally-enjoyed class but incredibly outdated, so it mostly fails to land. It's a fitting example of 1980s/1990s comedic mediocrity.