A Few Good Men poster
A Few Good Men

What’s Aged the Worst?

Arrest insult; Guest; Luther; Downey; letter; Yoo-hoo; clothing; Miscavige claim; real-life killing; unearned praise; Cuba framing

In the discussion (13)
Approx. transcript time · 00:59:58Read transcript
  • Ross calling Jessup a profanity during the arrest is considered implausible.
  • Casting Christopher Guest as an entirely humorless doctor is questioned as a waste of his strengths, despite his friendship with Reiner.
  • Luther, the newsstand operator, is criticized as a contrived device for trading aphorisms and signaling Kaffee’s progressive attitudes.
  • Concern that younger audiences would not understand the Clue reference is rejected by the others.
  • Downey’s inability to understand what he did wrong and his perjury are criticized.
  • Markinson closing his suicide letter with Always is considered an odd sign-off in the circumstances.
  • Kaffee failing to shake his Yoo-hoo and guzzling it immediately after softball are considered juvenile habits.
  • The early 1990s clothing and Kaffee’s shirts are criticized, although Jo’s high-waisted style has returned to fashion.
  • A reported claim that Cruise modeled Kaffee on David Miscavige is unwelcome information; the source is clarified as Miscavige’s alleged boast in Going Clear.
  • The later unsolved killing of David Cox, one of the Marines involved in the real incident inspiring the story, is recounted as a grim postscript.
  • The missed opportunity to show Cruise playing basketball with Bacon is lamented.
  • Repeated declarations of Kaffee’s greatness seem unearned by his early trial work, with his father comparison singled out.
  • The film’s framing of Cuba as a large immediate military threat feels dated.