There’s something uncomfortable about watching The Greatest Beer Run Ever. Well intentioned though barfly Chickie Donahue (Zac Efron – Gold, The Disaster Artist) may have been, taking beer to 1967 Vietnam to show support for ‘our boys’ is incredibly glib and naive.
Extraordinarily, Peter Farrelly’s latest film (his last was the Oscar-winning Green Book but he is also responsible for Dumb and Dumber) is based on true events. From Inwood, Manhattan to Saigon and beyond, Donahue weadles his way across country, erroneously thought to be, on occasions, CIA. But deliver beer he does to the boys from Inwood.
From flag-waving patriotism to a sneaking realisation that maybe the US should not be in Vietnam, Chickie’s rites-of-passage is limited. Bemused recipients of the beer, disbelieving journalists (including Russell Crowe – Gladiator, The Nice Guys) help that awareness of the realities of a war zone. Yet, like Green Book, the narrative skims only the surface.
Rating: 50%
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