Volunteers (1985)

"He looks so old and wise!"

"He's probably thirty."

* Note: Unfortunately, it's taken me a bit of a while to blog about this one, as we've had quite a bit of upheaval in our personal lives as of late. That said...

I'd never seen this movie before, and actually the only thing I knew about it was that it was the first movie Hanx worked on with his now-wife, Rita Wilson. Given that, I think I expected some sort of very sweet, playful on-screen chemistry between the two that reflects their real-life relationship, something along the lines of Meg Ryan and Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally... or Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks in Sleepless in Seattle. Come to think of it, maybe Meg Ryan is just movie chemistry Match Light. I dunno. Regardless, that really wasn't the case here.

Hanx plays Lawrence Bourne III, a spoiled, wealthy college student with a penchant for bad behavior (think Billy Madison in a tux with a really haughty Brahmin accent) who joins the Peace Corps to escape a gangster chasing down his gambling debt. On the flight to his mission in Thailand, Lawrence attempts and fails to woo fellow volunteer Beth Wexler (Wilson) while attempting to drown out the ceaseless prattle of his affable seatmate, Tom Tuttle from Tacoma (John Candy, as thin as I've ever seen him). Upon arrival in Thailand, the trio quickly realize that none of the local villagers save one, At Toon (Gedde Watanabe, aka Long Duk Dong of Sixteen Candles fame), can speak English, making him their de facto translator and concierge. The group finds themselves tasked with building a bridge from the village to the opposite shore, only to discover that a number of other parties - to include a local drug lord and Communist insurgents - have a vested interest in seeing the bridge get built.

Every time I see John Candy, I get a little more bummed out that his comedic brilliance was cut so short. He easily wrings every possible laugh from Tom Tuttle's jovial naivete, which takes a bizarre turn into brainwashed mania after Tom's encounter with the Communist guerrillas. Wilson is a charming ingenue as the idealistic Beth. Watanabe is something else. I'm honestly not sure what to make of the guy. Just the year prior to Volunteers, he'd played an exchange student who was the personification of every last Chinese stereotype you can think of. In this role, he's a student from Bangkok (hence his mastery of English) who takes each and every opportunity he can to call Lawrence an asshole, mostly for being ignorant of the local culture. In actuality, Watanabe himself is Japanese-American, and his stage name is a phonetic spelling of his actual first name (Gary) as one might expect a native Japanese speaker to pronounce it. Perhaps he's embracing the stereotypes before anyone else can impose them on him. It seems equal parts foolish and brilliant, but regardless of the harsh criticism he's received for the way he plays his characters, I enjoy them.

As for Lawrence, I thought his snobbish accent, which Hanx says he based on the actor playing his father, George Plimpton, was a joke at first. It seemed overdone to the point where I kept expecting him to snap out of it and adopt a more crass, juvenile tone. This may well have been because the haughty, proper tone of Lawrence's voice was at direct odds with his decidedly improper behavior, but it still seemed a bit much. With memories of Bachelor Party's Rick Gassko still fresh in my mind, I was torn on whether or not to like Lawrence. Thankfully, his behavior as opposed to Rick's was less destructive and more indifferent - as a cavalier Lawrence mutters at one point, "It's not that I can't help these people. It's just I don't want to." But unfortunately, like Rick, Lawrence really doesn't see much personal growth in Thailand. He just sort of makes it work for him, eventually making the village his own personal Casablanca, with (Spoiler alert!) Beth as his doe-eyed Rita Hayworth.

Overall, there was a fair bit of fun to be had in this film - I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Tim Thomerson's hilarious turn as John Reynolds, an unhinged Army soldier whose best friend is his knife, named Mike. The whole thing felt a little disorganized and haphazard, but that same sort of chaotic energy played well into the climax. It's part buddy comedy, part farce, part blatant war movie spoof. And thankfully, unlike Rick Gassko, Lawrence does manage to accomplish some good things in the end. Still, it's now been two movies since I've really liked Hanx's leading man, and I'm desperately missing the guy who ran (swam?) off to live with a mermaid. I'm anxiously awaiting the opportunity to meet his unwitting CIA asset in The Man With One Red Shoe. Stay tuned.