In the Army Now (film)

In the Army Now is a 1994 American war comedy film directed by Daniel Petrie, Jr. and starring Pauly Shore, Andy Dick, David Alan Grier, Esai Morales, and Lori Petty. The film earned $28,881,266 USD at the box office, making it the fourth-highest-grossing movie starring Pauly Shore (behind Encino Man, Son in Law and A Goofy Movie).

Plot

The film begins as two slackers, Bones Conway (Pauly Shore) and Jack Kaufman (Andy Dick) work at "Crazy Boys" discount electronics store in Glendale, California. While they goof off on the job, both have aspirations of opening their own electronics store in the future. Both are fired though, after destroying a rack of television sets.

Looking to score some quick start-up money for their store, and believing that the commitment will be minimal (they are easily lured by the recruiting slogan "One weekend a month, two weeks a year"), the two join the United States Army Reserves. Bones chooses water purification for their field since his brother was an experienced pool man and the field appeared to be devoid of combat. After surviving basic training, they attend water purification training. The two meet up with Christine Jones (Lori Petty) a female recruit longing for infantry, and Fred Ostroff (David Alan Grier), a skittish dental student. The foursome adopts the nickname of "waterboys". The group then returns to Glendale.

What Bones and Jack do not realize, however, was that Libya has been planning an invasion of Chad, and they are consequently called up for service overseas. They first try to get a military discharge by pretending to be homosexuals, but they fail.

Upon arriving in Chad, the four do not get along well with the full-time soldiers, particularly Special Forces Staff Sergeant Stern (Esai Morales). On a routine mission to resupply a forward base, their convoy is ambushed by a Libyan commando squad. The misfit reserves are thought to have been killed in action (KIA) and are left to fend for themselves. After a few days lost in the desert, they are captured by the Libyan forces and spend a night in a Libyan POW camp. There the reservists meet up with Staff Sergeant Stern who has been shot and captured in an ambush. He briefs them on his failed mission to rendezvous with two HALOed Fast Attack vehicles and destroy mobile Scud launchers carrying missiles armed with chemical warheads aimed at American bases in the region.

During an airstrike, the four reservists and Stern escape and find the Fast Attack vehicles. They make contact with the American headquarters and are ordered to finish the Special Forces' mission. After locating the missiles, they have a difficult time holding off a battalion of Libyans while painting the missiles with a laser for an incoming airstrike. The airstrike goes off-target, forcing the reservists to destroy the missiles themselves. Bones grabs an AT4 anti-tank rocket launcher and destroys the Scud launcher base in one hit, but not before accidentally firing one rocket backwards, forcing the group to use the last rocket they have.

The "waterboys" return home as heroes. At the end of the film, they open up their electronics shop next to an Army recruiting station. There are two guys who are similar as Jack and Bones, they are skeptical about the joining the reserves just like Jack and Bones did when they enter the army recruiting station.

Cast

• Pauly Shore - Private First Class Bones Conway
• Andy Dick - Private Jack Kaufman
• Lori Petty - Private Christine Jones
• David Alan Grier - Private Fred Ostroff
• Esai Morales - Staff Sergeant Stern
• Lynn Whitfield - Drill Sergeant Ladd
• Art LaFleur - First Sergeant Brandon T. Williams
• Fabiana Udenio - Gabriella
• Glenn Morshower - Recruiting Sergeant Richard Day
• Beau Billingslea - Sergeant Daniels
• Peter Spellos - Mr. Quinn
• Brendan Fraser (uncredited) - Link
• Saul Owens (uncredited)

Production

Filming locations

• The two main characters play miniature golf at the Malibu Castle located in Redondo Beach, California. It was torn down in 2005.^[3]
• The basic training scene was filmed at Fort Sill, located near Lawton, Oklahoma.
• Shore did his water treatment training at Fort Lee, Virginia. He actually went through the training to better understand the job. The water treatment training in the movie was also filmed at Fort Lee.
• The desert scenes were filmed in Yuma, Arizona.
• The Camp in Chad was filmed in Acton, California.

Reception

In the Army Now received almost universally negative reviews, holding a 6% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 31 reviews.^[4] The consensus states "This 1994 Pauly Shore vehicle stretches its star's thin shtick to the breaking point with a laugh-deficient screenplay that borrows shamelessly from Bill Murray's far superior Stripes".

Home Media

It was released on DVD February 3, 2004.

References

External links

• In the Army Now at the Internet Movie Database
• In the Army Now at AllMovie
• In the Army Now at Box Office Mojo
• In the Army Now at Rotten Tomatoes