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

Nayan Gough A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

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

Billy Ollie Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

bpatrick-8 OK, Steve Martin is not Phil Silvers. Martin is from a middle-class background in Waco, Texas; Silvers was a New York street kid who probably had to hustle just to survive. It stands to reason, then, that Martin will--and should--play Bilko differently, which he does, even though he still has the money-making schemes going and, central to the plot, convincing his superiors that the hovertank works, which it does not, to keep himself from being shipped to Greenland and to keep Fort Baxter open.Dan Aykroyd as Col. Hall is just as much a patsy for Bilko as Paul Ford was on the television series, and I don't think Phil Hartman was so bad as the officer whom Bilko set up some time back by making it look like he's paid off a fighter to take a dive, got sent to Greenland, and now intends for Bilko to suffer the same fate. What's missing is that Bilko's platoon is largely faceless (they don't make enough use of Doberman, who was the real star of the television series), but in keeping with the updated setting from the 1950s to the 1990s, Bilko's immediate underlings are a woman and an African American.Also, the setting of Fort Baxter has changed from Kansas to California, although I think in the last year of the TV series the setting was moved to one Camp Freemont, California. Here, too, Bilko's girlfriend is a civilian schoolteacher; on the series, as I recall, it was a WAC.But nitpicking aside, Martin's Bilko, like Silvers', in effect runs the base, gets up when he wants, toadies up to the brass, and generally comes off as a sergeant I'll bet everybody who ever wore an Army uniform would have liked to have. No one ever really gets hurt by his scams (except maybe Thorn, who ends up back in Greenland at the end). And somehow he seems more harmless than Silvers although both are, as someone else once put it, "Bugs Bunny in a uniform." Catherine Silvers, Phil Silvers' daughter, who plays one of the auditors brought in by Thorn to try to get something on Bilko, even praised Martin for not trying to imitate her dad.There's also a connection to "My Cousin Vinny" here; Jonathan Lynn used Mitchell Whitfield and Austin Pendleton in that film as well.I do agree with the contributor who said that the funniest line comes at the end, when the producers acknowledge the "total lack of cooperation from the United States Army."

ThatMOVIENut Based on the classic 50s comedy series, the movie plays out like an extended episode, seeing the wiley Bilko (Steve Martin) getting up to wacky money making schemes with his subordinates at a military base while keeping their superior (Dan Ackroyd) out of the loop. This time, it concerns an old rival of Bilko's (Phil Hartman) who is determined to expose Bilko's hijinks, all the while, Bilko deals with finding love and a new top secret weapon.Possibly a candidate for one of the most boring comedies I've ever sat down to watch, and the fact that this comes from 'Clue' and 'Yes Minister's' Johnathan Lynn makes this all the more inexcusable. Most of the film is completely wooden wordplay, lazy innuedo or poorly edited slapstick, and when it tries to have a plot, it's just a retread of every cheeky rascal/wacky army film comedy (seriously, name a trope and it's there. Crazy soldiers, stupid boss, snarky officer, harebrained schemes that take up more time than actual training, brand new deadly weapon, yadda yadda), and it does nothing new, clever or amusing with them to make the retread vaguely compelling.Not even the performances or production can save it. Every actor is just coasting by, with Ackroyd on complete autopilot in a thankless role, while Martin and Hartman regurgitate familiar 'smartass' and 'professional pain' routines we've seen many times from them respectively, and Lynn's direction is completely lifeless and televisual which only neuters the gags even more. Of note is an embarrassingly poor use of CG for the super tank that looks like it was ripped from a cut price PS1 game. Honestly, I just can't come up with more as the film is giving me nothing to work with. Among the careers of the people involved, this is an all time low, and I would advise avoiding unless you are a very, very die-hard fan of Martin. I'd happily take 'Pink Panther 1' and '2' over this any time.

david-sarkies This movie seemed to be just some silly comedy until I saw it in the cinemas and actually quite liked it. Then time passed and the movie became in my mind a silly comedy again, until I taped it and watched it and realised that it was actually quite clever. I had no intention of taping it until I learnt that the late Phil Hartman, the guy who played some of my favourite Simpsons' characters, was on it. As such I decided that I would watch it and when I did I thought it was very good.Sergeant Bilko (Steve Martin) is a master sergeant at Fort Dix Research and Development army base and he runs a very sophisticated gambling ring under the nose of a rather dopey commander (Dan Akroyd). Bilko is not an evil man, rather he is a slippery, fun loving, gambler. He does it not to rip people of, but simply to have fun and make life easy for him and those around him. The problem is that an old enemy of his, Major Thorn (Phil Hartman) has returned from Greenland, and when he learns of where Bilko is, sets out to destroy him.Basically this is a movie about a easy going guy who goes up against a stuck up rule following senior. It is the idea that life is meant to be lived and not taken seriously, and those who do are basically bad and should be out witted. Even though I agree that we need to enjoy ourselves and have fun every so often, there is an extent to which we can do this. Even though we should have fun, we do need to realise that there is an extent to which we need to be responsible for our actions - but this movie does outline that. Bilko is supposed to marry a woman, but he keeps on forgetting the wedding and turns up late. He is confronted with the fact that he must face up to his responsibilities with her. Also, she is even more cunning than Bilko: where Bilko can lead Thorn around and outwit him, Bilko is always outwitted by his fiancé. This is seen when she always seems to win when they play cards.I liked this movie and I liked Bilko's character. He is a gambler that always wins: that is what his luck is like. What we should remember is that Bilko is a fictitious character and nobody ever really wins like he does. We cannot take after Bilko and go into casinos expecting to win heaps, but rather enjoy the character and remember that like Bilko, the bad characters are also exaggerated (though at times are more realistic - as my friend said about Titanic - the only realistic character was Billy Zane's character).

Kristine You know what's weird? My mom was the biggest Steve Martin fan you would ever meet, she had(what I thought) all of his movies and watched every biography on him. So since she had a lot of his movies, I watched most of them with her. But my boyfriend kept telling me about a film called St. Bilko and how hilarious it was. I was stumped, I couldn't find it in my mom's collection nor did I ever hear of it. So my boyfriend and I went shopping and he found it on DVD, so we went home and watched it. This film just took me back to the classic comedies I grew up with like Trading Places, The Great Outdoors and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Steve Martin is always a great comedic actor who is a pleasure to watch, same with Dan Aykroyd. While this movie doesn't stand out as well as their other films, this was still a lot of fun to watch.Master Sergeant Ernest G. Bilko is in charge of the motor pool at Fort Baxter, a small US Army base. Exploiting this position, he directs a number of scams ranging from gambling to renting out military vehicles. His commanding officer, Colonel Hall, overlooks Bilko's money making schemes, as he is more concerned with his own affairs. Bad news begins when inspector Major Thorn, Bilko's rival, arrives at the camp and begins to cast scrutiny on Bilko's record. The motivation for Thorn's actions is due to the intense rivalry between the two due to several mishaps in the past, particularly because Thorn's career was ruined due to one of Bilko's scams. Thorn's revenge ensues and ultimately it becomes a battle of wits between the two men. Thorn's reliance on sabotage ultimately leads to his downfall and he is sent to Greenland. Also Bilko's fiancée, Rita, whom Bilko has stood up several times at the altar. Bilko is given an ultimatum to win her back within 30 days or to lose her forever.I have to say that I did enjoy St. Bilko, it was great seeing this army crew just goof off and enjoying boot camp. I think my favorite scene was when Bilko has to prove that his crew are hard workers and could complete the obstacle course that the other army recruits could do. Just their reactions of course being as if they've never exercised before in their lives was a good laugh. Steve Martin and his fiancée constantly taking a trip up and down the aisle was fun too. Plus this has one of my favorite comedic actors, Phil Hartman, who is again a great watch is always guaranteed to give you a good laugh. While the film may not stand out, this was definitely worth the watch. I would recommend it if you need a good laugh, you're always in good company with Steve Martin, Dan Aykroyd and Phil Hartman, not to mention a baby Chris Rock.6/10