Frankie I remembered this movie from way back and decided to look it up. So glad I did. I found it to be hilarious. I realize that it deals with serious subject matter but there was definitely comedy there. I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes. It is called a "black comedy", I am really not sure why, the movie was comedic and upbeat to me with only a few serious moments. The lengths that military brass go to in order to get approval for production is unreal. It does however make for a funny story line. Cary Elwes, Kelsey Grammar, John McGinley, Richard Benjamin all seemed to have played off one another and it worked well. I would recommend this movie.

Uriah43 The Pentagon is trying to field a new armored personnel carrier into production to replace the aging M113. The main objective was a vehicle that could get combat troops into the battle as quickly and safely as possible. So when the design was finally established certain generals decided they wanted the Bradley Armored Personnel Carrier to be able to do additional missions as well. So a larger cannon was added which caused it to be larger. Since it was larger it became more of a target so additional armor was added. But since it had more armor it caused it to be slower and so aluminum replaced steel. And so on. Eventually, rather than having a vehicle that could get soldiers into the field quickly and safely, it became a monstrosity that was actually unsafe for the soldiers. Yet rather than admit these design flaws the decision was made to hurry up production as if getting the project approved was the ultimate symbol of success. At any rate, this film is so funny because this scenario is so close to the truth when it comes to the military industrial complex. Billions of dollars (with a "b") are spent on weapons contracts while soldiers are constantly short-changed on a litany of issues important to them. Be that as it may I thought Kelsey Grammar ("General Partridge") and Cary Elwes ("LTC James Burton) performed in an excellent manner. I also enjoyed the performance of Viola Davis as the loyal sergeant, "SFC Fanning". In short, this is a really good film that I highly recommend for anyone who has ever served or cares to see what goes on behind closed doors. Again, it's closer to the truth than many people realize.

NotMoreMovies I have two places I can begin: My assessment of the accuracy of this movie, and my true opinion of the Bradley Fighting Vehicle.This movie couldn't be closer to the truth. Why in this great age of technology don't we have much better things than we do? Several reasons which will probably always be with us -- greed, competition, and lack of communication! Once an idea is determined to be "bad" the idea should be forgotten in favor of a better one! The Bradley was a bad idea that everyone kept making worse instead of just saying "hey, this thing isn't practical, lets try to think of something better." For over a decade they wasted their time on this death trap, and 14 BILLION dollars...yes that's billion with a "B." (one of my favorite lines) Another was when the Bradley was described as "A troop transport that can't carry troops, a scout that's too conspicuous, and loaded with enough firepower to level...a small city..." The problem is everyone hates a whistle-blower. No one wants to be the one to take a stand, and that's where this movie comes in.The pentagon thought that the Army needed some outside evaluation to make a more fair judgment of how the Bradley development was progressing. They send in a young Lt. Col. in the Air Force, played by Elwes, to write a non-biased report. The problem is the damn thing was a disaster! There was nothing he could find that was positive to say about it. The problem is the Army wouldn't let him run and true combat tests on the vehicle because they knew it would fail. They just wanted to get it into production ASAP so that they could be seen as people who could "get the job done." Fearing for the soldier's lives, who would be the ones operating the first version of this vehicle, he waged his own personal war against the people in such a hurry to rush it into development.Remember one of this movie's tag-lines, this movie would be funnier if it weren't true, and by the end you'll be both thrilled, and disappointed...(remember to read the epilogue)

koolduck23 i first saw this movie well before coming into the military, and while i found it very entertaining, didn't fully appreciate it. having now been 3 years in, i can very much appreciate the humor of this fantastic satire. granted, there is a fair amount of hyperbole, and no, not everyone in the military is so very inept... but simply put, a few years working with military intellegence elevates my view of this film quite a bit.