"For the Boys" is all singing, all dancing and, except for the R-rated language, all old-fashioned - as old-fashioned as any '40s wartime musical.
Maybe too much so.
Beginning with a sappy, overly sentimental framing device, which has an 83-year-old Bette Midler reflecting on her life and career, and culminating with very strained anti-war sentiments, this is an overly ambitious musical-drama. That's right, despite what the ads may tell you, this is very much a drama.
Directed by Mark Rydell (who did Midler's "The Rose," as well as "On Golden Pond"), "For the Boys" opens with a network aide (Arye Gross) arriving in a limo to take Midler to a live TV show, where she'll receive a presidential citation for her USO work. But she tells Gross she won't go because she doesn't want to be on the stage with her old partner (James Caan). And, in flashbacks, she tells Gross how she and Caan became a team and why she feels as she does.
Basically, the flashbacks consist of three lengthy set-pieces, USO shows in England (during World War II), Korea and Vietnam. The film attempts to show how the attitudes of the wars and those who fought them changed over the years, culminating in a very predictable Vietnam tale involving Midler's son (played by the director's son, Christopher Rydell). Along the way there is a statement about the Hollywood Blacklist of the McCarthy era, involving Midler's liberal uncle (George Segal) and a lot of backstage sniping, much of it motivated by Caan's womanizing ways.
The entire cast is quite good, with Midler and Caan working hard - even under tons of elderly makeup in scenes that go on way too long (as does the film, at 2 hours, 25 minutes).
But where "For the Boys" comes alive is in the comedy scenes (as when Midler and Caan do a '50s live TV program together) and especially with the musical numbers as Midler struts her stuff. Whether performing old '40s tunes or more contemporary songs, Midler is most in her element singing her heart out. (Easily the most touching moment in the Vietnam sequence has her quietly warbling the Beatles ballad "In My Life.")
But too much of the script is simplistic and predictable, when it's not utterly ridiculous. Had Midler (who also co-produced the film) and Rydell gone for a comedy full-throttle, some of the movie's excesses might be forgiven. But when we're given too much time to ponder loose ends, it's a deadly flaw.
"For the Boys" is rated R for violence, an awful lot of swearing and vulgar gags.