Reviews

This is a film that will leave you crying, angry and filled with righteous indignation, as it should.

Of the thousands of GI's who deserted during WW2, only one, Eddie Slovik, paid the ultimate price. His story is one of sheer bad luck on an appalling scale. Having done time for a minor offence (it was Grand Theft Auto), Slovik is determined to put the past behind him and start afresh. He gets a job, finds a wife and settles down, happy in the knowledge that his prison record means he's a 4F when it comes to military service. But when the army changes the rules and he registers as 1A, he finds himself in a situation he's emotionally unable to cope with.

Eddie Slovik should never have been on the front line. He was terrified of guns and at boot camp they had to cheat to get him through the rifle range. Right from the start it was clear this was not the sort of man any soldier would want defending his rear, since he was incapable of doing it. Despite this, he was sent into Europe after the D-Day landings. Separated from his platoon he found a niche for himself as a forager for a Canadian unit and there, frankly, he should have stayed. When ordered back to his own unit, which was on the front line, he deserted, having made his situation plain. It's a downhill run from there.

The film uses actual letters written by Slovik and comments from people who knew him to fill out the background of this tragic story. Sheer bad timing, combined with a belief that no one would see the sentence through (since it had never been down before) contributes to the film's heartbreaking conclusion.

Martin Sheen's performance is stunning. He manages to capture the pathos, fear, confusion and final terrified resignation of the man in the face of the inevitable. Slovik is the victim of fate and circumstance; the little guy, totally unprepared for the world in which he finds himself, more than willing to apply those skills he does possess to the war effort, but incapable of fulfilling what the army demands of him. While you can appreciate the army's need to make a point, you are left with the unalterable conclusion that here they picked the wrong man.

This film left me feeling extremely angry, and it's a rare one that does that. It also made me want to find out more about the circumstances surrounding the events and I was pleasantly surprised to find the film, by and large, stuck to historical fact.

Highly recommended.

Sheen gets very little opportunity to play romantic comedy, but he actually does it quite well.

The trailer and summary say it all. Anthony Wayne is something of a ladies man, except he can't get the ladies. The clock in his house (which I would have thrown out years ago) may be a hint as to why, given the egomaniac side it suggests, but his heart's in the right place. Upon relocating in Paris he spots the lady he wants to spend time with and seeks a way to get closer. When he discovers she needs a maid he promptly turns up, only to discover she has a remarkably obnoxious brat of a daughter, which explains why she hasn't had any joy keeping maids up until now. His cash (allowing him to pay others to do the work), his charm and a good heart win over both mother and daughter. Problem is, he's actually the mother's new co-worker and, when she finds out his true identity, she's not impressed by his lies.

OK, that's the summary, now what's wrong with it (since I gave it 8 and not 10). Primarily, the editing. This is the worst hack-job of editing I've seen in a long time. I'm sure there was more to explain how Wayne worked his way into the little girl's heart (the fact she managed to memorise the song in record-breaking time without actually being told the lyrics right through hints there's a huge edit there) and without all that, it's too pat. This is a brat of a daughter who's reduced stronger maids than him to pulp. Are we to assume that just because he's a man (and replacing the father-figure, perhaps?) that she's just going to suddenly behave herself? For an all too brief period she actually puts up a fight, but either the script lacked what was needed, or the editor hacked it out. Either way, the turn around from brat of the year to 'adorable' little girl is far too fast and totally unconvincing.

The other problem is that whoever wrote this script knows exactly zip all about making deals, and it shows. Not that I wanted a comedy version of Wall Street but, again, the solution comes too easily and is totally unconvincing.

That said, I enjoyed it. Sheen has some great moments and he's clearly enjoying himself. So much of what he's done in the past is heavy, thought-provoking, horror filled or just plain odd, and he rarely gets the chance to show he has a good sense of humour (although that's presently being rectified with The West Wing, wherein he manages to combine deadly serious, thought provoking stuff with some fall down funny lines). He's doing the best he can with a not very impressive script and, by and large, where the film falls down the problem does not lie in his performance.

This is light-hearted fun. So long as you're not expecting anything more than what is essentially a 'chick-flick' with some nice moments, you won't be disappointed. The guys should enjoy Bisset while the romantics will enjoy something mildly entertaining and totally painless. You KNOW he's going to get his girl. The fact it doesn't make any sense is pretty irrelevant.

Kudos to the actors, serious negative points to the writer and the editor, both of whom need to go back to school.