Premise: Stripes, except a year earlier and with Goldie Hawn.
Seriously though, I feel the same way about this movie as I do Stripes. The first half (maybe 2/3s) is great. Judy's (Goldie Hawn) origin story is really funny. I enjoy all the fish out of water wackiness early on. As soon as she gets out of basic training and there's still a half hour left though, the movie screeches to a halt. Every scene people remember from Private Benjamin happens before she's assigned to the paratrooper unit. For that reason, I find it laughable that this got a screenplay nomination at the Academy Awards.
Now, I love that Hawn got a lead actress nomination and Eileen Brennan got a supporting actress nomination. I wish more performances like theirs got Oscar attention. Hawn is great throughout the movie. It's not her fault that it doesn't know what to do with her for so much of the final act. And, she still ends up selling the ending (ignoring the fact that it simply forgets to be a comedy by then).
There are more good parts of the movie than bad. I love the idea of this and 9 to 5 hitting theaters in the same year. This is an enjoyable watch, regardless of the dip.
Verdict: Weakly Recommend
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