Best movie of this year hands down!

Purely Joyful Movie!

Close shines in drama with strong language, adult themes.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Can't believe all the hate for this movie. I thought it was hilarious. It just seems that most of the vitriol spewed about it comes from those expecting something that this movie isn't, and was never intended to be. It is a lighthearted slapstick comedy that is not made for analyzing to the nth degree.Lighten up Francis

After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor paranoia swept across the nation as the United States was swept into World War 2. One of the most prominent areas of paranoia following December 7th was the West Coast, in particular California cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco. Nothing like the films events occurred in real life, but at the time it was a real concern. The plot of 1941 is in the context of this paranoia. While the film isn't great (especially by Steven Spielberg standards), to say the film is boring would be false. One of the best things about the movie is the characters. There are a few throw away characters but those played by Dan Akroyd, John Belushi, Toshiro Mifune, Christopher Lee, Ned Beatty, John Candy, Warren Oates, and Slim Pickens are a lot of fun to watch, even if some of them aren't in the movie very long. There's also a bunch of great gags. But the flaws are pretty prevalent as well. As funny as some of the jokes are, there's also other ones that are just painful or awkward. In conclusion, the film is relatively enjoyable but the flaws can leave you imagining how it could have been a better movie. I do recommend it as it is very entertaining, but the flaws exist.

Steven Spielberg was, like many people, part of my childhood, and to this day 'Jaws', 'ET', 'Raiders of the Lost Ark', 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind' are still favourites. 'Schindler's List' is also a masterpiece, and 'Jurassic Park' still leaves me awestruck with the revolutionary dinosaur effects.Despite being widely regarded as Spielberg's biggest disaster, am personally not of the opinion that '1941' is quite his worst film. It's one of his worst, and on reflection his most disappointing considering the ideas and the talent, but to me 'The Lost World' (both that and the third were a disgrace to the original 'Jurassic Park') gets that dishonourable title.'1941' has its moments where it succeeds. Technically, it looks fabulous, being beautifully shot (wasn't crazy about the dance scene in general but the cinematography in the scene was impossible to find fault with) and audaciously designed. John Williams delivers yet another rousing music score, not one of his better efforts but a very good and perfectly fitting within the film one all the same.A few good scenes and standout performances. The ferris wheel and house destruction scenes are technical marvels, are wonderfully anarchic and extremely funny, and even more so the opening of the Coke and Slim Pickens scenes. Mustn't forget the 'Jaws' parody either. Of the cast, faring best are a wonderfully crazed John Belushi (a nothing part but Belushi makes the most of it), a hilarious Slim Pickens, Robert Stack as an army general who loves Dumbo, a nerdy and madcap Eddie Deezen and a wonderfully stoic Christopher Lee.Others don't fare so well though. John Candy has nothing to do and looks bored, Dan Aykroyd is similarly wasted in a slapstick that is far too over-the-top and busy to find much entertainment value in, Treat Williams overdoes the aggressive condescension of his character and comes over as an irritating bully, Tim Mattheson and Nancy Allen are pretty bland and while good Lorraine Gray and Ned Beatty are underused.Furthermore, '1941' suffers from being bloated and trying far too hard. It has too many characters, most of which either have very little to do or are sketchy at best or feature too much with not much interesting at all. Likewise there are also too many plot-lines, which gives the film a too busy and sprawling structure at times, the worst faring one being the love story subplot that just grinds the film to a halt and is truly dull.Humour wise, '1941' has moments where it's funny, but too much of it is too loud, too over-egged, sloppily timed and gratuitously vulgar (this kind of humour has worked very well in other films like 'Animal House' but in those instances the timing was much sharper and less manic). The film takes far too long to properly get going, with the appearance of Slim Pickens being where it properly shows signs of coming to life. Despite the dazzling cinematography and a suitably intense brawl, the dance scene is not that interesting and goes on forever. The dialogue is crass and left me stone-faced rather than crying my eyes out laughing.Spielberg shows expertise on the technical and visual front, but when it comes to momentum and keeping control of the too many plot strands and characters he fails and shows himself less than natural with comedy.Overall, not a complete disaster but a lesser Spielberg effort that tries far too hard. While it succeeds in a few areas it fails badly in many others. 3/10 Bethany Cox

I just love this movie so many great scenes with so many classic actors... I am not sure why this great movie is so underrated & so unappreciated it is truly one of the greatest movies to come out of 1979 as I consider it one of the greatest comedies of the 80's & of all time...Just look at some of the individual scenes on their own...The great Jaws opening spoof... John Belushi is incredible with both of his characters...Dan Aykroyd and John Candy fantastic especially later in the tank scene...Timothy Stack, Treat Williams, and Nancy Williams all great...Warren Oats and Robert Stack both great...Every scene with Slim Pickens just classic the Submarine scenes some of the best pure gut laughter the spoof of Dr. Strangelove great stuff...And the dummy just hilarious my god the dummies right...If you don't laugh at this wonderful film you are dead inside...Steven deserves some recognition for this well directed film!!!