It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

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

By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Production assistant Jeff Brooks (Arye Gross) tries to convince Dixie Leonhard (Bette Midler) to join Eddie Sparks (James Caan) on his TV special. Dixie is bitter and recounts her history with Eddie. During WWII, Dixie is overjoyed to sing with Eddie. On the other hand, he is dismissive at first and angry at her crude humor. Art Silver (George Segal) convinces them to be an entertainment duo. Dixie's husband gets killed in the war. During Korea, they get caught up in the fighting. Art is blacklisted and Eddie is forced to fire him. Dixie's son Danny starts rebelling and sees Eddie as a father figure. Danny joins the military for Vietnam and Dixie blames Eddie for his lost.The construction is very flat and biopic-like. The problem is that it's not a biography and it doesn't have that extra appeal. There is very little intensity and the drama has no tension. The central conflict centers on Danny and yet he is no more than a prop. This movie should be mostly about the conflict between Eddie and Dixie over Danny. That's the only place where the drama has any tension.

For The Boys is a film that's about two performers and their almost 50 year association of one kind or another through some tumultuous times in America. The filmed earned Bette Midler a nomination for Best Actress in what might be her best screen role. At least it's the favorite of mine.Dixie Leonard where Midler gets to show all her talents is a young club singer who gets a break to accompany famous entertainer Eddie Sparks as played by James Caan on a USO tour in World War II. Midler's husband is an army photographer who's killed in action, but she still has his son who is played at various times in his life by Brandon Call and Christopher Rydell, director Mark Rydell's son. George Segal who is Caan's gag writer also is Midler's uncle and he acts as cupid in this show business marriage. All of Midler and Caan's lives are played out against the background of America in World War II, the Korean War, the McCarthy Era and Vietnam.Caan's character of Eddie Sparks is said to be based on Bob Hope and God only knows what Hope must have thought of this film at the time it was out. By that point his stature as an American icon was secure. Hope was known to have liaisons with a few female performers, most discreetly however. The best known that kind of bubbled to the surface was with Marilyn Maxwell who Midler's character might have been based on. The character of Eddie Sparks however had three daughters and America's most well known father of girls was Eddie Cantor in most of this era. And Cantor's most well known extra-marital affair involved Joan Davis.By the way actress Shannon Wilcox has a brief but really telling part as Caan's ice princess of a wife. Her few scenes tell you exactly why Caan's out roaming.Caan got a lot of criticism for his part and I'm mystified as to why. Eddie Sparks is a complex part and Caan mastered all the subtleties even though he's not my idea of a song and dance man. He's the kind of man who will stop at nothing to climb the ladder of success, but he's also not a totally bad man. Knowing full well that George Segal's pungent political comments in front of gossip columnist Rosemary Murphy, another ice princess, will get him in trouble, he tries in one scene to tell him to just cool it. In that other classic, The Way We Were, Caan is adhering to Robert Redford's philosophy where in ten years time right wing producers will be hiring left wing writers and the blacklist will be forgotten, it's just something to be ridden out if one keeps a cool head. I don't think Caan was totally wrong there, he didn't want to lose his friend and a good writer.What finally breaks Midler and Caan apart is the death of her son, like his father in combat in Vietnam. Caan and the boy bonded genuinely and the young man, probably more to honor his father chose a military career, graduating from the Citadel. Caan has a flip attitude towards education which is something the kid picks up on. But people who have a flip attitude towards education, albeit with a military bent, don't last at the Citadel.Midler sees Caan as a warmonger who built his career on the publicity surrounding the entertainment of troops like Bob Hope. Caan argues quite rightly that he doesn't make policy, he doesn't send kids to war, he's a song and dance man. A good mixture of songs from the various eras make up the score for For The Boys. One song, Bill-A-Dick by Hoagy Carmichael and Paul Francis Webster was an unpublished number at the time it was written and makes its debut here. It's sung by Midler along with Melissa Manchester and Pattie Darcy as an Andrews Sisters like trio. Remember Midler did revive the Andrews Sisters's Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy.The film is an absolute gem, Midler is divine and don't listen to the criticisms that were given to James Caan.

I've enjoyed many of Bette's films, including "Big Business" and "The First Wives Club," but this movie is downright repulsive and distasteful! I'm glad they tried to expose the blacklisting of the 1950's for the heartbreaking nonsense that it was, and I sort of appreciated the basic anti-war theme. But the film itself is horrendous and the ending made me want to vomit! There is absolutely no warmth in these cardboard characters played by Midler and Caan. You can't help but hate them both! Every dumb and embarrassing stereotype is used to excess. Poorly written---it bounces between sitcom stupidity and soap opera histrionics--and definitely doesn't leave you with a "warm and fuzzy" feeling when it's finally over. If you watch this movie, you're wasting nearly two hours of your life! What more can I say.....it's awful. If Caan's character was supposed to be Bob Hope....well, he was definitely miscast in the role. This film ranks in stupidity with "Funny Lady," which also starred Caan.

I lost count of the times I watched this movie in the span of three weeks. Where I was when this movie was released I wondered? I knew about the film, what was I thinking? What was I doing? Oh forgot, gave birth to my daughter, no excuse.I was born in 1951 and romanticized the 40's for most of my 20's. What did I like about this movie you ask? Let me count the ways. The realism portrayed in the RSO tours. It spans World War II, Korea and Vietnam with uncanny sensitivity. Of special note is a scene when Midler and Caan are at the side of a dying solder.George Segal is as I always find him, UNBELIEVABLY talented and entertaining. His co-writer, Loretta is wonderful with her hip slinging quips. Best line in the movie is hers "What will it take for you to give me a kiss?" A pause she replies "Chloroform." This is the type of humor of the 40's rarely found in films, other than Neil Simon plays. In fact this film is full of quips. I find myself looking for incidences on a daily basis enabling me to draw from the millions of one liners in this screen script.The music or better yet the selection of music is perfect! And then of course, there is Bette. The film is made in 1991, Bette was born in 1945. Do the math, she looks fabulous, to me she is at her best. Not just in the looks department it's the command and ease she displays in her role.James Caan how difficult was it for him to play someone so close in character to himself? I'm sure difficult, because his performance grabs you. You really care about the Solid Gold, World Class, Son of a Bitch (Bette's words not mine. See what I mean?).There is nothing I did not like about this movie. Not true, the main characters did not speak for 25 years. It was tragic but understandable and real. All the more reason for me to love the story and it's characters.It's excellent and I recommend it to all Midler fans everywhere. Bette I've been away for too long but never to stray again. Can't wait to purchase the DVD and CD of this movie. Also looking forward to her latest release of Peggy Lee songs. A perfect match of talents, kudos to you Ms. Midler.