- by Don La Haye
The Greatest Beer Run Ever is a brilliant comedic retelling of a story that audiences may find hard to believe. Taking place during the Vietnam war, a brave yet naive young man embarks on an adventure to bring his friends on the front line a taste of home; an ice cold beer. Along the way he is forced to come to terms with the harsh reality of the war- a message his sister desperately tried to explain to him before he left. The movie deals with some very serious issues of the time but manages to keep within reaching distance to a good chuckle.
Zac Efron, as the lead character Chickie, proves his acting ability in expanding beyond the hunk or heart throb characters and giving a comedic and humbled performance we had yet to see from him until now. The film reaches across several points of view regarding the social and political landscape of the time.
Now, as then, people are deeply divided along political and moral lines. Now, as then, we are watching a war unfold at the other end of the world- only this time it is in Ukraine rather than Vietnam. Both wars threaten stability in the West, and we feel the same need to contribute as we did in 1967. We also struggle with the same feelings of disillusionment regarding politics. It is easy to see then why this film will resonate deeply with audiences. It may be due to the fact that we are searching for the same feeling of connection and community in the midst of hardship that Americans (left or right) were searching for in 1967. It would also be hard to ignore the similarities to the USA’s war with Vietnam and the Russian invasion of the Ukraine.
However without going too far down the political rabbit hole, it would be easy to dismiss this story as ridiculous or even campy. The idea that this is a true story and the dangers that were experienced by a plethora of people from soldiers to journalists to lovingly delusional people delivering beer to their friends, somehow finds its way into your heart.
Russell Crowe once again proves his acting ability as a gruffy no-nonsense photographic journalist, and was the perfect fit to the missing piece of this story. The only down side to this movie is that Bill Murray didn’t have more lines. Once again Murray made himself impossible not to adore, and once again displaying the range of most great comedic actors.
To say this movie has a happy ending would be not only morbid but tone deaf, considering the outcome of the Vietnam war. Having said this, the horrors of the Vietnam war don’t deny the unlikely beautiful stories that came out of it; stories such as this one.
Don La Haye is a 34 year old avid movie and sports watcher, locally born and raised with long family ties to the Owen Sound area. He's interested in history and little theatre and musical performance and he loves a good intellectual debate.
Photo reference: https://picryl.com/
