Robert J. Maxwell The director, Penny Marshall, belongs to a group that includes Ron Howard and Rob Reiner. They reliably produce family movies that are commercial in that they're emotionally satisfying, politically correct, show little or no smoking, and are without special challenge. Their products are to movies as Time Magazine is to news. That doesn't necessarily mean they're poor movies. You want basic news in a familiar format, you read Time Magazine.In this case, poor Danny DeVito is an award-winning advertising man who loses his job and takes the only alternative -- teaching on an army base to a dozen soldiers who are marginal and need to be taught to think.The diverse students are scornful, having been ordered to attend the class. DeVito feels hopeless. But, bit by bit, both DeVito and the class come around to mutually relish the bond they've formed. On top of that, DeVito, who marched against the Vietnam war, accommodates himself to the army, and the students learn the difference between a simile and a metaphor.It has its funny moments -- DeVito stranded on top of a tall tower -- but the underlying theme is a serious one. That's how you make a commercial movie that the whole family will enjoy. It's not an insult to the intelligence, not an orgy of blood, not based on a comic strip or a cartoon character, and it has a happy ending. The ending is predictable because it's part of a friendly formula: mismatched teacher and class who learn from each other, as in "The Blackboard Jungle," "The Private War of Major Benson," or "To Sir, With Love." The reason it's part of a formula is that it's been proved to work.On the whole, the students may be ignorant, in the sense of not knowing much about high culture or grammar. They may not be able to write twelve-tone music, but they're not stupid, in the sense of being unable to learn quickly. I taught night school at Camp Lejeune and the Marines were as bright as any, and a few were very quick on their mental feet indeed.

thirdpaige The older I get the more I realize how this movie is a little cheesy, But if you really like a feel good movie you can't go wrong with this one. Danny Devito did a wonderful job playing a teacher in the army.(a job he didn't ask for and is not looking forward to)He is brought in to teach these kids that everyone thinks are stupid. Every one of the characters left an impression in my mind. They all did a wonderful job at playing their roles.Each one of the student's are different and everyone knows someone in real life like each one of them. It is a little like dead poet's society but with more comedy and a more "happy good feeling" I am always in a GREAT mood at the end of this movie!

dy158 Bill Rago (Danny DeVito) works for an advertising firm. But when one day he had been fired from his job, his new job is somehow very unlikely from his past nature of work. Teaching army recruits.Soon he was being 'thrown' into a life so different from what he had known. Initially Bill had no idea how his class should ran, till one day his students was asking what he was reading.Thus it became the time where Bill was teaching 'Hamlet' to his students. They began to slowly warm up to the idea of learning one of Shakespeare's works and that even Bill drove all of them to go watch the play.All along the way, Bill did had some run-ins with his students' commander on the way how they should handle their (same) students. But in the end, one had to win his way out. And it's not what one may kind of expect whom to be.The moment Bill was teaching 'Hamlet' to his students, I sort of realised how the movie title came about. Imparting teaching methods which may deemed so different is not what everyone can accept, but to a bunch of unlikely people, it can be quite a challenge altogether.This is just one of those movies where one can enjoy in a no-frills manner.

rebeljenn 'Renaissance Man' is a film about a teacher who is hired to teach literature to a group of rebellious army recruits. It is a film about the relationship that this teacher has with the students and the changes that all of them make. The teacher learns how to appreciate the army recruits and gets a sense of understanding from them; at the same time, they learn how to buckle down and actually enjoy reading and learning about Shakespeare's 'Hamlet'. This is one of those feel-good films. I got really sick of watching this film as it was always on television and one of those films that my family tended to watch and rewatch at least a dozen times. This film has its share of laughter and succeeds in providing a feel-good story and a happy ending.