It goes on for about fifteen minutes too long, sure, but what’s funnier than Bill Murray wisecracking every few minutes as cinema’s most smartass Army recruit? Not much, I say. Murray is the tentpole here, while the rest of the film bumbles around him. It’s classic farce, where laughs comes first, a few pretty girls to spice things up come in second, keeping the camera in focus comes in third, and the whole thing making even one lick of sense comes in at a distant fourth.
This was originally conceived by director Ivan Reitman as a Cheech and Chong movie, but that deal fell through so it was retooled as a vehicle for Murray (and writer and fledgling actor Harold Ramis), who was hot off of Caddyshack and Saturday Night Live.