Delayed Reaction: Air America

What I Guessed It Was About: Good Morning Vietnam. I thought it was Good Morning Vietnam. I looked at that poster and I immediately thought it was the exact plot of Good Morning Vietnam but with two Robin Williams-s. There was no plot guessing. In my mind, I was certain it was Good Morning Vietnam.

How I Came Into It: Obviously, I didn't know much about it. It's from a period when Mel Gibson was still quite beloved*. I haven't seen nearly enough pre-1995 Robert Downey Jr.. This has great "buddy movie" potential.

*I would love to read a study on the mechanics of his career deconstruction some time, because he's damaged his career in a way that few have. I mean, remember Hugh Grant? He came back from that mess unscathed but not Gibson?

Why I Saw It: (Club 50) The most fascinating thing about watching this movie is that Mel Gibson is playing the exact character that RDJ plays now. If you cast that movie today, or even in 2000, RDJ gets the Gibson role without a second thought. I guess that's not really complimenting the movie. It's just the thing that dominated my thoughts the whole time. It was a nice little alt. narrative of the Vietnam war, but in Laos, and not a war.

Why I Wish I Hadn't: I'm not sure what movie they were making. It's part buddy comedy, part action movie, part drama. It struck me more as inconsistency than an attempt to be multi-faceted. And, any point when I didn't think about the Gibson/Downey, I thought about Tropic Thunder instead. There's no way to watch this movie in a vacuum and what has followed it has been problematic for it.

Verdict (?): Weakly Don't Recommend