Private Benjamin

Private Benjamin casts Goldie Hawn as Judy Benjamin, a sheltered high-society figure who impulsively joins the army after an unexpected death and quickly discovers that she might just be out of her element. It’s a fairly familiar premise that’s mostly employed to affable effect by filmmaker Howard Zieff, as the director, working from a screenplay by Nancy Meyers, Charles Shyer, and Harvey Miller, does an effective job of initially establishing Hawn’s spoiled protagonist and eventually wrings laughs out of the fish-out-of-water situations in which she’s placed – with Hawn’s perpetually ingratiating performance matched and heightened by a strong supporting cast that includes Eileen Brennan, Harry Dean Stanton, and Mary Kay Place. It’s clear, then, that Private Benjamin’s engaging atmosphere takes a hit as it progresses into its oddly clunky and incongruously dramatic third act, with Zieff’s head-scratching decision to emphasize Judy’s Paris-based exploits, mostly involving her relationship with a slick Frenchman (Armand Assante’s Henrí), certainly ensuring that the whole thing concludes on a decidedly underwhelming note. It’s too bad, really, given that the picture ultimately does boast quite a few appealing elements, and it’s apparent, in the end, that Private Benjamin should’ve topped out at 90 minutes (ie the almost two-hour running time is nothing short of absurd, for sure).

**1/2 out of ****