McHale's Navy (1997)

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.

I am a fan of McHale's Navy, and since i enjoy watching the original series, I thought I'd see the movie, until I saw the cast. Tom Arnold as McHale, wow that started to kill my interest, then I saw Tim Curry, that killed it even more. David Allen Grier, who I like don't get me wrong, but as Ensign Parker, who is white, that kills the originality of the film because in order for it to be McHale's Navy, everyone who takes the role has to fit the part from the original series, so that means race, and gender, etc. Then a female as Captain Binghampton's aid, who is supposed to be a male, named Elroy Carpenter. French Stewart as Happy, and Happy is fat and bald, and I don't think French is, there isn't Fuji, there isn't Tinker, so they should have made a different name for the film because this isn't what the title says it is; it's not McHale's Navy, its someone else's Navy.

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!

I had warned my then-boyfriend that McHale's Navy was going to be an awful film. There were many signs. One was that it was based on a TV show nobody my age (20) really ever watched, not even as syndicated reruns. Another was the cast, which lit up plenty of warning lights: Tom Arnold as the lead? Tim Curry as the villain? French Stewart as the "funny" guy? Ack! But we went anyway.I remember that, even though it was a rather short film, I was very bored. I don't even recall any salient plot details apart from vaguely clever and falsely emotional bit about helping out some troubled islanders from the wicked schemes of Tim Curry. I also remember cracking up laughing when Curry's character grabbed a child character, snarling "Come here, boy!" because somebody behind me said "Peter Pan the Pirates," referring to the cartoon where Curry did voice acting as Captain Hook. It did seem like Curry was putting on his generic "bad guy with bad foreign accent" performance. And the less said about Tom Arnold, the better. Now, whenever I talk to my ex, he'll sometimes joke, "You know, you were SO RIGHT about the McHale's Navy movie. You told me it was going to suck, but I refused to listen."