Volunteers (1985)

Overrated and overhyped

A different way of telling a story

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Volunteers is one of those films that hits the ground running. Though it may lag a bit later on, it is definitely worth watching, just for the opening scenes.Some of the funniest bits occur in the movie's first 15 minutes. After a great intro montage of early 60's images (Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Kennedy, Hula Hoops, The Alka-Seltzer kid, Khrushchev and JFK) the last images fades, into Kennedy's famous "Ask not what your country can do for you" speech. (JFK also speaks at the Yale graduation later--did this happen? Didn't JFK got to Harvard?) The scene cuts to a seedy bar in New Haven (a mere five years before the Doors would be arrested there at a concert! Amazing how times changed so quickly). Lawrence Bourne III, a Yalie with an upper-crust WASP, Maine accent is gambling , with some scary guys. His girlfriend, a snooty "Smithie" named "Bootsie", tells him "What the hell, Lawrence; it's only money?" before he wins around 11 grand on a bluff. An odd guy named Cicero (Ji-tu Tumbuku) threatens him with a knife, saying he'll kill him and everyone he knows. The guy seriously looks ready to have a stroke. Lawrence still baits him by pretending he can't understand him, then leaves with a backward hand wave and a "Ciao". Bourne and the girl go out to chat with the owner, who is termed "my only Italian friend" by the preppie. He owes this guy from a previous bet and they bet on the Celtic-Lakers game that conveniently takes place at mid-day during Lawrence's graduation. He doubles the bet to $28,000 and loses, as the bar owner and the Cicero watch, all with transistor radio ear-buds, listening in. He is told to get the money by sundown or else. Prior to that, we are treated to a bit of college dorm nostalgia as we see Lawrence's roommate laying outside the door, listening to the couple make vigorous love inside. "Now, now, NOW!" yells the girl and Lawrence's roommate, Kent Sutcliffe (Xander Berkely, upon whom I think Jack Black's "School of Rock" roommate, Ned Shneebly, might be based!) echoes it while pounding on the door. He enters, tells them he needs to get ready and we get a taste of Hanks' dry humor as he pulls out a stethoscope from beneath camouflage net. "Well, then we'd to get down to the actual sex then, hadn't we, Bootsie?" I love it! She is unfazed by Kent's presence and questions Kent about his gear (that she and Lawrence were using for bedsheets!) and asks, "What are you going, the Peace Corps?" He tells her he is and she drawls, "I was JOKING..." Kent obliquely implies that she and Lawrence are selfish, unlike him, as he is "going to Thailand to help people". He mentions that he's leaving that night. SPOILERS: Somehow, Lawrence makes it from New Haven to Maine (a several-hour drive) for a congratulatory dinner at the family mansion, after which he asks his dad, played with delicious, WASP dizziness by George Plimpton, for a loan. To his shock,his father denies him, saying it will build character, and if they DO "break his hips", he'll have to learn to use a walker. It's clear Lawrence got his warped sense of humor from his father. Just then, Cicero shows up and the father talks to him while Lawrence bolts in his Corvette. There is a classic gag, but with a twist, with two lines racing down I-95 to New York with a map that zooms in slowly until it shows the airport map and the Corvette blasts through it onto the tarmac, conveniently close to Kent's plane.Bourne begs Kent to swap places and the roomie reveals his true personality as he finally agrees, but only if he can "have" Bootsie ("Go ahead!" says Lawrence, "Everyone else has!") and the Corvette's title signed over to him. THAT hurts, says Lawrence, but agrees. He boards the plane, slamming the door in Cicero's face, who now clings to the outside of the plane, in a great sight gag. Lawrence turns and looks through the curtain into the cabin. Everyone is swaying back and forth and singing "Puff the Magic Dragon"! Hanks gives his trademark "horrified" look and says, "So...this is Hell!".Everyone here has covered other parts of the film quite well, so I will just echo their sentiments by agreeing that this is an underrated film , and that the other performances are wonderful: John Candy as "Tom Tuttle, Tacoma, Washington" is hilarious as the over-zealous engineer with good intentions but no cultural awareness. Rita Wilson's "Long Island" accent was unconvincing, but her performance as a wide-eyed do-gooder, Beth Wexler, was spot-on. Gedde Watanabe as At Toon, the fast-talking kid who went to an American School in Bangkok, has some of the best lines in the film. At a crucial moment, Lawrence fears for their lives and At Toon mockingly says, "I'm okay. I never had a woman. I built a bridge. I got touched by some fat guys. I've had a FULL life!" One of my favorite roles was John Reynolds (Tim Thomerson) , the crazed CIA operative, who names his Bowie knife "Mike" and gives Beth a VERY suggestive Burmese statue. He is an eerie foreshadowing of another comical, yet insanely right-wing Texan, whom many considered crazy, or at least much too war-happy. When John tells Beth he'll show her a good time soon, he says it will be "Just you, me and Mike". *Shudder*!Anyone who misses the "old" Tom Hanks (and just misses Candy!) should see this film again, back when Hanks was obviously not thinking about Oscars and just having a hell of a good time being hilarious.

Did you ever think to yourself, "Man, that Bridge on the River Kwai was okay, but it should have been a comedy!?" Me neither. Bad news: somehow, it exists. Tom Hanks, the star of this crap, has said that there are some movies he wishes he could remove from his resume. Volunteers should be one of them, but might not be since he met his long-time wife Rita Wilson through it - love shows up at the kookiest times, huh? John Candy is hands down the most irritating part with his lousy Tom Tuttle character, and it's quite embarrassing to see our precious Hanks act a fool and throw away lines in a lame "rich Harvard boy" stereotypical dialect. I honestly can't think of anything I'd call my favorite scene... I suppose it's when Hanks throws cigarettes and gum to the villagers. If you really want to see Hanks and Candy paired up in a much better film, see Splash. If you see Volunteers on the rental shelf, do me a favor: knock the display case to the ground and "splash" a loogie on it. Anyone with a brain won't care.

GREAT movie! One of the classics of the 80s! I love Tom Hanks & John Candy together--good foils-in fact, the two of them and Rita Wilson are a good example of very different personalities being forced to live and work together--we have all been there! And Gedde Watanabe (aka Long Duc Dong from "Sixteen Candles") is classic--he gets many of the best lines ("What have we learned, Dorothy?", etc). The subtitle gag was totally stolen by Mike Myers for his subsequent Wayne's World, the funny graphics/maps was stolen for EuroTrip (and many others)...it's just too amusing! And it's nice to find a comedy that has a sweet message too-this one fits the bill.

before they started winning oscars, struggling actors such as tom hanks and robin williams used to be... SURPRISE!! funny! volunteers is a great example of a movie that refuses to take its leading actors seriously and is all the better for it. this is not a "star vehicle" but is rather an irreverant tongue-in-cheek romp. it takes its cues from saturday night live, sctv, monty python, and cheesy off-broadway one-act plays. in return, it is spoofed by one particular hollywood blockbuster to follow, austin powers goldmember. mike myers must have been as impressed with the "reading the subtitles" joke, as well as the "asian guy on the toilet/being chased by sumo wrestler" schtick. but rather than beat the jokes to death, volunteers assumes we are smart enough to catch them on the fly. i bought this in a $5.00 dvd bin, and was reminded why i liked the movie so much in the first place. it is never particularly mean to any of its subjects, including the primitive thai villagers, the communist revolutionaries, yalies, jews, liberals, conservatives, or any of the other fringe elements put into play. as a result, volunteers doesn't insult me as an intelligent movie viewer. by the way, i had forgotten how humorously effective was the "lawrence's bar" scene where the local musician plinks out an oddly romantic version of "as time goes by" on an asian sitar. volunteers is the sort of movie actors must do just for fun. y'know... when they're not too busy trying to win oscars.