What’s Aged the Best?
The breakup setup, John Candy, Judge Reinhold, throwaway jokes, the women, poker running gag, score, deleted scene, Murray–Ramis friendship, and Warren Oates lead the praise.
In the discussion (11)
Approx. transcript time · 00:36:05Read transcript
- The wet-blanket girlfriend telling the likable loser he is going nowhere is treated as a comedy setup copied for decades.
- The first training sequence, especially the log obstacle, is explicitly added as another thing that aged best.
- John Candy’s first appearance, long hair, cigarette, and Eisenhower greeting still land immediately.
- Judge Reinhold’s short role is praised as part of a strong early-career run.
- Lines such as the furs answer, the drug answer, and Ramis’s strip-search head movement reward repeated viewing.
- Sean Young and the other actress playing a military-police character are praised as charismatic women with agency; the latter’s strong late-1970s run is recalled.
- Candy repeatedly exploiting the character Cruiser in poker remains an effective running gag.
- Elmer Bernstein’s score is praised for shifting between jaunty and lower-register military themes.
- A deleted South American subplot has LSD, an unauthorized paratrooper mission, guerrilla capture, and escape; cutting it is judged correct because it derailed the film.
- The Harold Ramis and Bill Murray friendship is itself described as something that aged best.
- Warren Oates and Sergeant Hulka also remain durable strengths.