A Case of the Blues

As a fan of Matthew Broderick and Christopher Walken, it seemed unavoidable that I should watch Biloxi Blues, the film adaptation of Neil Simon's play of the same name. It's the middle play of a trilogy centered on a semi-autobiographical character, and chronicles a young man's time in basic training to be shipped off to fight in World War II. This film version is directed by the acclaimed Mike Nichols, the script adapted by Neil Simon itself.

It comes off as a film with almost nothing to say, but which says it very well.

The movie doesn't feel like it has much in the way of a plot. It has a duration, contained in the weeks of army basic training, and it has many "episodes" along the way. But there's no one throughline to all the pieces, no grand culmination to which it all builds. The lead character keeps a diary, and the script often feels like unconnected pages read at random from that diary.

That said, any given piece of the film is quite entertaining. There are scenes to make you laugh, scenes to evoke sadness, awkward scenes, romantic scenes, scenes laced with tension. Matthew Broderick is as endearing a protagonist as ever. Christopher Walken serves up a nicely different take on an army boot camp officer, menacing and demoralizing without shouting at the top of his lungs. The supporting cast (some reprising roles they played in the original Broadway production) breathe convincing life into their characters.

If you don't mind a movie where the parts are somehow greater than the sum of those parts, then Biloxi Blues is well worth a look. I find I can look past the flaws enough to give it a B, though I feel like the movie could have been and done better.