Rating (1 to 10) : 3
Summary: Supposedly a movie about the lives of two young men living through the turbulent period of 1969.
So many movies have been made about America during the Vietnam War and how it divided the nation and even families. Some of these movies succinctly capture the zeitgeist of our society at the time. Some beautifully show the inner conflicts within America about the war. Some depict the loss that families experienced because of the war, whether by losing a son or father in the war, or from having a loved one return home changed forever by his/her experience in Vietnam. This movie does none of these things.
The movie is ostensibly about the lives of two young men, Scott Denny (Kiefer Sutherland, Ace Merrill in “Stand By Me”) and Ralph Carr (Robert Downey Jr., Julian Wells in “Less Than Zero”) between 1968 and 1969. Both are neighbors and boyhood friends from a town in Maryland (in fictitious Culloch County) and both just graduated from high school. The Vietnam War is going on and both enrolled in college to avoid the draft but they don’t really seem too interested in learning, even about the “truths” about Vietnam.
You are left wondering what this movie is all about. It seems to be about Scott and Ralphs’ lives as they live through momentous times. Both are against the war but neither of them gets involved in protests against the war until the very end. Neither of them attempts to learn more about the war to better educate themselves to oppose it. Instead, they seem to drive around for no apparent reason, trying to “find themselves” after Ralph OD’s on LSD.
Maybe it’s about how the war divided not just the nation but families. After all, Scott’s estranged older brother, Alden, is a US Marine and is about to be sent to Vietnam. Scott’s father Cliff is a veteran of World War 2 and views opposition to the war as opposition to the country while Scott’s mother seems ambivalent about the war. But if it is about a family being divided, the director didn’t do a good job of portraying it as such because the parents of Scott are made into tangential characters, moving in and out of the story without purpose.
Kiefer plays Scott as a quiet, introverted young man but his acting leaves you wondering how Scott can be so unassuming and yet have the inner strength to hold onto his convictions. Robert Downey Jr. plays Ralph in his usual style – rambunctious, irresponsible, and obnoxious, just like he is in real life. His character added nothing but confusion to the movie. Winona Ryder has a supporting role as Beth, Ralph’s younger sister. After her breakout movie, “Beetle Juice”, she took a step back with a bland performance in this movie.
Why you should or should not see this movie:
Unless you are a big fan of Winona Ryder (like me) and want to see her beautiful face in certain scenes, avoid this movie. There are better movies about Vietnam out there to waste your time with this directionless movie.