‘THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE’ 1/2
RATED: R (strong violent content, language throughout, some sexuality, drug material and brief nudity) WHEN: Opens today WHERE: Cottonwood, Winrock 16, Premiere (Rio Rancho), Regal Santa Fe Stadium 14 (Santa Fe)
The detailing of their physical and emotional injuries is laid in an almost edutainment style, citing statistics about suicide and careful questionnaires about mental distress. But it’s at once an account of PTSD and a wartime mystery. While these young vets struggle to receive treatment for their combat stress, traumatic brain injuries and suicidal thoughts, they also speak cryptically about “what happened to Doster,” one of their comrades who died, leaving behind a distraught widow (Amy Schumer) searching for answers.
While parts of “Thank You for Your Service” work well, overall, the film is inconsistent. A middle section lays out a perfect villain that is disappointingly dropped: the governmental system that churns through boys and leaves them alone to navigate the bureaucratic nightmare that is Veterans Affairs, while admonishing them that it’s “bad for morale” to ask for help.
This biting, trenchant social commentary is abandoned for a misguided subplot involving Solo (Beulah Koale), Adam’s buddy, getting caught up in a bad situation with a drug dealer, a Desert Storm vet. It’s extremely disappointing that the film ultimately positions the real threat as a fellow vet, a man of color, rather than the war machine that chewed them up and spit them out.
The representations of the Army wives aren’t all that much to write home about, either. They’re mostly shrill nags who can’t understand. Amy Schumer, making a turn toward dramatic fare, is woefully miscast. In a brown wig, it’s too hard to separate her from her comedic persona and it almost feels like one of her “Inside Amy Schumer” sketches.
Teller is a compelling actor, and when the film focuses on Adam and his boys — their bonds forged in combat, sealed with blood — it’s sensitive and moving. No man is left behind, even back home. Teller is best across from Koale, who is utterly riveting in his soulful performance as the American Samoan soldier Solo. Despite its storytelling inconsistencies, the film reveals a harrowing veteran experience when it focuses simply on the men themselves.