While most of his neighborhood friends are fighting abroad, John decides (on a dare) to do something nice for them: he’ll travel to Vietnam to bring them some American beer and a little bit of cheer from home.
More egregious is the choice to feature just one Vietnamese character in a story set in Vietnam.The film applauds Chickie for striking up a friendship with a Vietnamese man, and then applauds him again later for the lessons learned from that encounter.
The character is transparently supposed to represent the perspective of patriotic Americans, but like the demonstration mentioned at the beginning of this review, his pro-war dialogue is facile and everything he says is obvious.
Like with Green Book, Farrelly hopes to tell an audience-friendly, feel-good story based on true events.
By questioning nothing, Farrelly offers a demonstration of his own—namely, how not to treat a complex subject