A 1994 American war comedy directed by Daniel Petrie Jr that has two slackers (Pauly Shore and Andy Dick) joining the military to get money for their dream business and are soon called to save the day after finishing basic training.
The movie also stars Lori Petty, David Alan Grier, Esai Morales, Lynn Whitfield, and Art LaFleur.
It was released on August 12, 1994.
Tropes for the film:
- Action Girl: Christine can't sign up for the infantry like she wants, so she signs up for Water Purification specifically because there is a desert war brewing and Water Purification is the MOS most likely to be called up.
- Armed Farces: Bones and Jack, two misguided guys, join the reserves in order to put a permanent end to their unemployed status. However, they soon realize that there is more to being in the army than meets the eye.
- Battle Discretion Shot: The ambush which kill the special forces team is only seen from a distance.
- Big Damn Heroes: Bones and company manage to almost single-handedly destroy a mobile missile base armed with chemical warheads and stop a larger war.
- Brick Joke: After the group lets their camel go, it is seen chasing them. Later, when Bones is captured by a Libyan soldier, the camel knocks him down, saving Bones and allowing him to save the day.
- Drill Sergeant Nasty: Sgt. Lamb manages to toe the line between this and Reasonable Authority Figure. She is quite proud when Jack and Bones pass basic training.
- Every Car Is a Pinto: A few bullets into the engine block manages to make an Army deuce-and-a-half truck explode spectacularly. Rather strange considering the group was carrying foodstuffs and water to a base.
- Faux Affably Evil: The Libyan base commander acts somewhat nicely to the captured group, before letting them know that they will be launching chemical warheads against American and UN bases, a violation of the rules of War and the Geneva Convention.
- Faux Yay: Jack and Bones attempt this to get discharged before going to Chad. They can't go through with it when their CO asks them to prove it by kissing.
- Foreshadowing: At the Crazy Boys store, there is a news report on the growing situation in Chad.
- Four-Temperament Ensemble: Bones Conway (Sanguine), Jack Kaufmann (Phlegmatic), Christine Jones (Choleric), Fred Ostroff (Melancholic).
- Funny Background Event: Invoked when the group waves and makes faces to the camera behind a war correspondant. Also right before it, after he notices the camera, Bones smacks Jack with his duffel, making him stumble.
- Happy Ending: All four survive their trip to Chad, Bones and Christine in a relationship by that point. Jack and Bones have opened their stereo store right next door to the same recruiting station they once visited. They even gain a pet camel.
- Here We Go Again!: Two guys who look very much like Jack and Bones did in the beginning of the film leave the recruiting station and mention signing up for Water Purification.
- Hooking the Keys: After the airbase they're being held in gets bombed, the group tries to get the keys that that the unconscious (or dead) sentry dropped. However Christine notices that the cracks on the wall of their cell allows light from the burning aircraft and facilities outside, she gives the wall few good kicks, and makes a hole large enough for her and the guys to crawl out of.
- Inadvertent Entrance Cue: Right after Bones tells First Sergeant Williams to be patient and have a cup of coffee while he talks to the group, one of his men appears with a cup of coffee for him.
- Naked People Are Funny:
- Bones gets naked to seduce Gabriella.
- While suffering from heat prostration, Jack sees a mirage of an ocean. He then runs to it, stripping along the way so he can jump into the "water".
- Non-Action Guy: Bones, Jack, and Fred all start out this way. All three are toughened up by basic training and their service in Chad gives them confidence in themselves.
- Peeling Potatoes: Thanks to how many push-ups Bones had to do in basic training, he can easily do more than a hundred. When First Sergeant Williams realizes this, he decides to make him peel potatoes every time he screws up. When he and his friend run afoul of a special forces squad, one of the commandos throws some food at Bones, misses, and smears a colonel, who sentences him to peeling potatoes as well.
- Physical Fitness Punishment: During basic training, Bones constantly screws up and has to do push-ups as punishment. By the time he goes to Chad, he can do more than a hundred in full pack easily.
- Reckless Gun Usage: Fred attempts to use the but of his rifle to crush what he imagines to be a scorpion in his sleeping bag.
- Sacrificial Lion: The Special Forces team are killed in an ambush.
- Shoot the Hostage: The U.S. Air Force almost does this, accidentally, with the group. After they're captured Bones tries to cut through the bars on the window so that they can escape, as he pries a window bar loose, an alarm sounds, and shuts off when he puts it back. When he carefully tries it again, Bones thinks he set off the escape alarm, only for Sgt. Stern to correct him saying it's the air raid alarm. The group huddles in the middle of the cell and yell in terror as the Libyan aircraft, control tower, and the fuel and weapons depots get blown to smithereens.
- Stalker with a Crush: Jack acts like this towards Christine from the moment he meets her.
- Throw the Pin: During basic training, Bones throws a pin and drops the grenade. His drill sergeant saves him two seconds before it detonates.
- Traumatic Haircut: Bones screams after seeing his Army-issue haircut.
