In the Army Now Movie Review

In the Army Now (1994)

Rent In the Army Now on Amazon Video
Written by: Steve Zacharias & Jeff Buhai and Robbie Fox (story), Ken Kaufman & Stu Krieger & Daniel Petrie Jr. and Fax Bahr & Adam Small (screenplay)
Directed by: Daniel Petrie Jr.
Starring: Pauly Shore, Andy Dick, Lori Petty, David Alan Grier, Esai Morales, Lynn Whitfield
Rated: PG
Watch the trailer

Plot
Two misguided adults join the Army reserves to make some easy money for their entrepreneurial dreams. No sooner than they finish basic training are they called into combat.

Verdict
This is your average '90s comedy. It's not that bad, but it's not something you need to see either. You get a lot of the typical jokes displayed in joining the army type movies, though there are a couple of nice subtle jokes. While it isn't a particularly annoying Pauly Shore movie, it is indeed a Pauly Shore movie.
Skip it.

Review
I watched this back in the mid 90's when Pauly Shore movies were popular, well that small point in time when maybe they were popular.
This seems to be Shore's version of Stripes (1981), but it's been a while since I've seen it.  I remember Bill Murray, Harold Ramis, Russians, the Cold War, and an armored RV. I suppose that alone makes it better than In the Army Now.

Pauly Shore plays Bones, which I never got over that name. It just doesn't fit him and it doesn't seem to be a nickname. He's a slacker at an electronics store. After getting fired, he convinces his friend played by Andy Dick to join the Army reserves with him. It's like free money and you're hardly ever sent to combat, or so they think. With the money they plan to open their own electronics store.
This has the typical haircut scene, which might have been a big deal at the time. Googling "Pauly Shore 90s", the results all show him with long hair.

Interestingly, Shore directed a faux documentary in 2003, Pauly Shore is Dead where he fakes his death to revive his career. When it works, he comes out of hiding and gets arrested for faking his own death. It sounds like an awesome concept though reviews are not good.

This does have a few subtle jokes and visual gags that seem distinctly 90s. Shore tells his friend that with their two checks of twenty-five hundred dollars, that will give them six thousand dollars. No one reacts, the movie just moves on. In a comedy today, that would turn into a big gag. I'm glad it didn't in this.

This does switch it up with a female drill sergeant, but watching a movie with Andy Dick fawning over different women, as he does with the drill sergeant and later Lori Petty, is a bit off putting with his legal troubles.

This really felt like a quick intro until we get just past basic training. At that point the movie slows down and never really picks back up. Shore, and maybe his character, seems to be the type of person where any attention is good attention so he really likes basic training.
He and Andy Dick meet up with David Alan Grier and Lori Petty. They call themselves the water boys as they are the water purification unit.

Shore and his unit enter combat as water purification is most likely to get called up since combat is taking place in the desert. Shore annoys people, annoys me, gets lost, and then he gets captured with his unit.

Link, played by Brendan Frasier makes a cameo as his character from Encino Man (1992). That was a Pauly Shore, Sean Astin movie where they unearth a frozen young cave man, Link. Link was high school age in Encino Man, college aged when he cameod in Pauly Shore's Son in Law (1993), and in this he's found his occupation as a soldier.

A big issue I have with this is their mission to paint the target for an air strike. David Alan Grier has to point a laser at a target for ten minutes. At the last second he drops the laser and the jets bomb the wrong spot, where the laser was pointing. Couldn't he have pointed the laser at the target for 30 seconds or a minute to let the jets know the target? Couldn't they radio and tell them to paint the target now?

Somehow in this world Pauly Shore is the hero. He also gets the girl, opens a store, and displays classic 90s fashion.

This could be the poster child for average 90s comedies. I've seen this type of movie a bunch of times and it contains nothing worth recommending. It's just filler.