Amy Adler Quinton McHale (Tom Arnold) is in the Navy on a lush Caribbean island, lucky duck. Surrounding him are his men, including Ensign Parker (David Alan Grier) and a host of others (one is French Stewart). Not really having a lot to do, McHale runs a side business in pin-up calendars while the swabs under him bunk in hammocks outside, instead of the stuffy barracks. Alas, the Navy gets wind of this and sends a new, no-nonsense but weird Captain, Cap Binghamton (Dean Stockwell) and his true believer Lieutenant Carpenter (Debra Messing), to "clean up the ship". This upsets all, naturally. Meanwhile, a German spy (Tim Curry) is set to capture the same island for the Commie Homeland. The Captain is blind to this coming takeover, so its up to McHale and company to thwart these doings. Our Mac also gets help from a secret Navy General (Ernest Borgnine). Whoa, and perhaps Carpenter is falling for McHale and about to switch sides! What will be the finale? This light-hearted, fun film will be a silly mood lifter for those who view it. What could really be better than that in this world? The cast is terrific, with Stockwell very comedic and Arnold, Stewart, Messing, Grier, and all of the others backing him up nicely. How great to see Borgnine, too, as he was the original McHale as we all know. The scenery of the islands is wonderful, like paradise on earth, while the script and direction are up to snuff, , albeit not likely to win awards. Join this Navy, do, and you will be a contented soul.

FlashCallahan Naval commander McHale has left the service and set-up trade on a Caribbean island, which supplies his former mates at a military base nearby with all their needs.The base is now commanded by Capt. Binghampton and island governor has a deal with a terrorist to use the island as base. McHale gets back into his crew when his arch-enemy Major Vladikov sets up an operation to destroy the island.....1997 was a random year for comedy, you had watchable guff like Rocketman and Most Wanted, but then you had awful, brain dead movies like Gone Fishin', and this film.I don't think that it matters that I have never seen the series, but I get the jist. I'm guessing it was a lot like St. Bilko, but set at sea. Arnold is an okay screen presence, and is a wonderful supporting character, as seen in True Lies, and even Exit Wounds.But the man cannot carry a movie, and Carpool and this prove it, and no matter how many zany supporting characters there are, it doesn't help him.The story is awful, Messing looks desperate, and Curry hams it up almost illegally.There's a big explosion at the end and Dean Stockwell looks bored.Like I was after this dirge.

Little-Mikey Making a movie remake of a great TV series is a highly risky endeavor. Unless the movie remake is absolutely fantastic, critics will rip the movie to shreds and so will a good number of viewers! Initially, I was annoyed by some of the character choices, feeling that the addition of a female for Lt.Carpentrer and a black for Ens. Parker was an act of putting too high a priority on "political correctness", over "entertainment".But the two, given the chance, proved that their roles were perfectly suited and they portrayed their characters brilliantly. David Alan Grier is a comic genius who had me in stitches! Dean Stockwell portrayed Capt. Binghampton with the same comic brilliance as the Late Great Joe Flynn. Tim Curry's Maj.Vladikov really gets on one's nerves with his constant complaining of being only the second biggest terrorist in the world and it is easy to despise him. But then again, Maj. Vladikov just happens to be the bad guy! So we're supposed to despise him.To really get the most out of this movie, one must forget the original series which took place during World War Two and simply focus on the this movie, which takes place in the present.The movie is funny. It has a action scenes and some edge-of-your-seat action. And if the movie was anywhere as bad as some critics made it out to be, would Ernest Borgnine, the original McHale had allowed himself to be involved with this film? I think not! Enjoy!

[email protected] I just caught this movie on Encore. I'd never had much interest in seeing it based on the negative comments that have been made about it. It was much better than I (and a lot of other people) gave it credit for being. I came to the IMDB site because the credits went by too fast and I wanted to check some of the actors. I was surprised to find that so many people really disliked this film. First of all, I'd like to point out that the original show was fantasy. C'mon--does anyone really think that the series represented what it was like in the South Pacific during the Second World War? It also doesn't give you much of a starting point except the characters and their interactions. With apologies to Tim Conway, Joe Flynn, et. al., the original series had only one star--Ernest Borgnine. It was called McHale's Navy for a reason. So it's fitting that Tom Arnold should be the focus of the movie. I think they did keep to the spirit of the original series and, where these comments started, the movie was just as much a fantasy as the series was. In terms of the plot, it too kept with the spirit of the original series. For those of you looking for plot depth or profound characters missed the point of both the series and the movie. It was supposed to be entertainment, escapism, with a mild segue into reality. If you want something profound, watch Schindler's List or something by Kurasawa, or anything Shakespeare by Brannagh. But don't ask me to eat the same thing for dinner each night--I'll get tired of it and I'll yearn for cotton candy. Movies of this type are called "guilty pleasures." They're supposed to be fun. Having said that, one man's fun is another man's Bergman. This movie isn't going to be everyone's cup of tea but it isn't a bad movie. Just take it for what it is--a little bit of fun, a little bit of fantasy.