Yes, the plot is annoyingly predictable and the outcome USA fairy tale-ish; and yes, the acting is bad in places and several scenes are utterly uninventive (the obstacle course, the local bar thugs). Clearly, An Officer and a Gentleman is neither Biloxi Blues nor Top Gun (and definitely not Full Metal Jacket), even though it shares a lot with such "watch the cute recruit soar" genre pieces. But I'll spot anyone a fiver who didn't get a little case of Niagara Falls when Richard Gere, in full salt and peppers, oozing ambition, carries a surprised Debra Winger away from her Laverne and Shirley-esque factory doldrums to eternal military wife bliss. Even our cat got the tingles.
The sort of realism we expect from contemporary films just doesn't apply here, nor do tired old complaints about schlock Hollywood movies and the American dream. As a gutsy, poor man's Bildungsroman, An Officer and a Gentleman works. It's just too bad that as soon as the whole affair starts to sound like a Billy Joel lament, "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong" chimes in, saving the characters from any and all tragedy and drowning out half of the film's integrity.
The sort of realism we expect from contemporary films just doesn't apply here, nor do tired old complaints about schlock Hollywood movies and the American dream. As a gutsy, poor man's Bildungsroman, An Officer and a Gentleman works. It's just too bad that as soon as the whole affair starts to sound like a Billy Joel lament, "Love Lift Us Up Where We Belong" chimes in, saving the characters from any and all tragedy and drowning out half of the film's integrity.
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