The Greatest Beer Run Ever, 2022.
Directed by Peter Farrelly.
Starring Zac Efron, Russell Crowe, Kyle Allen, Bill Murray, Jake Picking, Will Ropp, Archie Renaux, Ruby Ashbourne Serkis, Will Hochman, Christopher Reed Brown, Joe Adler, MacGregor Arney, Hal Cumpston, Kristin Carey, Paul Adelstein, Matt Cook, Shirleyann Kaladjian, Omari K. Chancellor, Brian Jarvis, Kelvin Delgado, James Fahselt, Mike Hatton, and Kevin Tran.
SYNOPSIS:
A man’s story of leaving New York in 1967 to bring beer to his childhood buddies in the Army while they are fighting in Vietnam.
We have all known someone like John “Chickie” Donohue (Zac Efron), the directionless and content twentysomething functioning alcoholic at the center of The Greatest Beer Run Ever (another true story from Oscar-winner Peter Farrelly’s Green Book follow-up, once again co-written with Brian Hayes Currie, this time bringing Pete Jones into the mix). Whenever not working abroad on ships, Chickie stays with his parents while drinking every night with his buddies (most of whom exist for comedic relief), hearing stories from the pro-war, America-first bartender dubbed The Colonel for his time serving in World War II (played by Bill Murray) justifying the conflict in Vietnam.
Growing up in a jingoistic New York neighborhood, America-first and the notion that the country can do no wrong is baked into Chickie’s mind. Even in a complicated conflict such as the Vietnam War, that’s far less black-and-white, he’s quick to shut down opposing viewpoints from his protesting sister Christine (Ruby Ashbourne Serkis) and dismisses the media’s negative reporting as one-sided and demoralizing for everyone back home. In other words, it’s truthful and hits too close to home, especially for those that can’t handle seeing an uglier side of America.
Chickie is more or less involved with a rowdy and immature group that perceives war as exciting, logical, honorable, and a grand ol’ time (and to be clear, it is honorable to serve one’s country). This amusingly contrasts with the Colonel’s opinion that the horrors of war should be kept off television screens, dismantling that propaganda narrative. Nevertheless, if the TV screens aren’t enough to convince an overly patriotic dope like Chickie that a war zone is a dangerous, psychologically destabilizing place, maybe putting himself in the line of fire will serve as a wake-up call.
That doesn’t mean Chickie is going to enlist (although he has performed some noncombat duties); no, while several beers deep, he comes up with the pointlessly stupid idea to do a beer run for the neighborhood soldiers still in the thick of it, many of which are his friends and some of which have already died. It’s his way of counteracting the negative publicity and raising morale.
The beer run is misguided and dumb but does come from the heart. Loved ones of young soldiers flock to Chickie with encouragement and items to deliver, suggesting that this reckless endangerment goes beyond the alcohol and is a sincere, noble gesture. There’s also word that Chickie’s best friend Tommy (Will Hochman) is MIA. Awkwardly constructed flashbacks (they do nothing to enrich this emotional friendship bond) reveal that Chickie is responsible for Tommy enlisting, so there’s also some guilt settling in, which could be his true purpose for making the trip.
Through some good fortune, Chickie finds a job aboard a vessel headed to Saigon, which comes to serve as his hub nearest the combat where his friends are fighting. While there, he encounters several war correspondents covering the situation, including Russell Crowe’s photographer Coates who tries to break through that publishing the harsh truth is the real way to support the troops. Naturally, the stubbornly narrow-minded Chickie doesn’t want to hear any of that, forging ahead to convince anyone willing to bring him closer to the peril.
Not even civilians, let alone press, are granted access there, but that’s okay since Chickie accidentally lucks his way into coming across as an undercover CIA agent, given clearance to go anywhere. It’s a running joke that, regardless of whether it happened in real life, is presented here with too much of a jokey flair, especially since real CIA agents are torturing Vietnamese civilians.
The Greatest Beer Run Ever is meant to break Chickie’s blind American loyalty down bit by bit, but it’s either too syrupy, emotionally manipulative (there’s a scene involving a Saigon traffic director that is unbelievably corny), or lightweight to tackle any of these conventional themes properly. Even when the film does inevitably take a graphically violent turn, Zac Efron doesn’t exactly excel at convincingly reacting to these horrors. If anything, it proves that Peter Farrelly’s tone is a confused disaster.
There’s also a sensible case to be made that a movie called The Greatest Beer Run Ever deserves a breezy and funny touch (and there is a terrific gag involving elephant dung). But that, too, is called into question, considering most of Chickie’s friends aren’t enthused to see him and certainly don’t want any beers, especially when his every brash decision further endangers them (who the hell can blame them). Then there are subplots such as the CIA looking to capture Chickie that are unceremoniously dropped.
Zac Efron is an underrated actor with the necessary goofball charm and dramatic chops to make the broad strokes of the character’s journey believable, but The Greatest Beer Run Ever is drunk in execution. It’s a series of sequences where Peter Farrelly calls for unity between family members, citizens and press, and ethnicities which are worthwhile but bland and schmaltzy. It’s as satisfying as it probably was to receive a warm, nasty beer from a well-meaning idiot trying to survive the front lines of a war.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★
Robert Kojder is a member of the Chicago Film Critics Association and the Critics Choice Association. He is also the Flickering Myth Reviews Editor. Check here for new reviews, follow my Twitter or Letterboxd, or email me at MetalGearSolid719@gmail.com
