Volunteers (1985)

Directed by Nicholas Meyer. Starring Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Gedde Watanabe, John Candy, Tim Thomerson, Ernest Harada, Allan Arbus, Shakti Chen, Clyde Kusatsu, Xander Berkeley, George Plimpton, Jude Mussetter. [R]

Feeble comedy with Hanks as a world-class jerk who flees from his gambling debts by hopping a plane for Thailand and joining the Peace Corps. After failing to weasel his way out of the responsibilities upon arrival, he decides to swindle the locals and run things his way (it doesn’t work out, to say the least). Hanks has a few amusing moments in the middle of the movie, but he plays such a smug snob that he should have been an antagonist, not a flawed anti-hero on the path to redemption. As a Washington State grad intent on building a bridge, Candy struggles to make much of his brainwashed character, even when given the opportunity to spoof Alec Guinness’ mad determination from The Bridge on the River Kwai. Tries to transition into light adventure during the final third without success. Though hardly a sparkling entry on their respective résumés, Hanks and Wilson likely have no regrets making this dud since it led to them reconnecting and eventually marrying.

39/100