Gee, film makers sure had it easy back in the day. At War With the Army shows comedy teams could become huge stars and massive box office draws with almost no comedy. I’m not above big, broad, physical comedy, but even the dumbest jokes need some sort of context, some sort of reason to be there. But it seems sixty years ago, the combination of Jerry Lewis and Dean Martin was reason enough to throw in am obvious, predictable gag, no need for story or further justification.
This is the first Martin and Lewis joint I’ve seen, it was also the first to have them in the starring roles. They’d been featured in two movies as a duo before, but this was their big premier as the main characters. Which makes me wonder, how did they become such a phenomenon as a comedy double? Because why would anyone watch At War With the Army and think they deserve another shot at the title?
That makes it sound like I think this is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. That’s not the case at all. It’s just one of the laziest movies I’ve ever seen. Jerry Lewis making a silly face and doing some amazing physical comedy that directly relates to the story being told… Hilarious. Jerry Lewis making a silly face and doing some really lazy, thrown together physical comedy for no discernable reason… Confusing at best. Dean Martin playing Lewis’ self-appointed superior who’s arrogance hides a genuine affection for Lewis deep down… That can lead to some laughs and nice bit of heart at the end. Dean Martin basically being a selfish prick and never really attaining any redemption… Not really a great basis for comedy gold.
The weirdest part is, it’s not as if there’s no story to hang the jokes on. This thing has story and exposition out the wazoo. It piles on the characters, mix ups and misunderstandings in an attempt at farce, but it never really holds on tight enough to any of these aspects to keep them in check. Instead characters, scenarios, loose threads and plot points float in when needed, are completely forgotten about when the next one comes along and pop up again out of nowhere when needed again.
In typical farce fashion, all the loose ends, quick fix solutions and lies converge on one hilarious point for the big climax. Only, they don’t. I had long stopped caring about any character enough to keep track of who was who, where they fell into this wacked out world of wacky wackiness and who knew what about who. Spinning plates isn’t so impressive if you let each one fall and smash behind you as you start the next one a-spinnin’.
The funny thing is (hey, I found a funny thing about this movie. Bonus!) that even though I found At War With the Army pretty pointless, it has made me want to see other Martin and Lewis collaborations. Because if they went on to become such an iconic duo in comedy, what followed must have been amazing to make people forget about this pile of mediocrity.
Watch the full movie streaming for free HERE
Directed By – Hal Walker
Written By – James B Allardice
Bored and Dangerous 
Ouch.