An '80s comedy from the director, and two stars of _Ghostbusters_ (1984); how could this not be great? I'm going to blame the writer, because the story is weak.
And what is the story? A "lovable loser," of sorts, John Winger - Murray - joins the army. He, along with a group of similarly oddball soldiers, get up to all kinds of antics along the way. Sound familiar? It should, it's _Police Academy_ (1984). Only _Police Academy_ is a well-made classic.
Too much of the dialog falls flat here, and the worst instances seemed like Murray was going off script.
Another giant issue was having two... antagonists - I suppose - Hulka, and Stillman. One would have been enough.
The other massive problem is the third act... as it relates to the first part of the movie, that is. The ending may be the best part, while at the same time being the worst. So, the entire second act is Murray's squad going through basic training, and I think that really needed to be the entire movie. The ending as a rescue mission feels very tacked on.
Now, the reason the ending doesn't work is because this is a comedy - true, it may be a rated-R '80s comedy, but a comedy nevertheless. That is to say, the stakes are super low, since no one can die or even be realistically injured. The creative forces here just did not have what it took to balance the proper tone for an action/comedy ending.
I'll put it this way: if a movie has nude mud wrestling and I still lose interest, you've done something wrong.