1985
R
TriStar Pictures
1 h 47 m

1985
R
TriStar Pictures
1 h 47 m

Summary Lawrence is a rich kid with a bad accent and a large debt. After his father refuses to help him out, Lawrence escapes his angry debtors by jumping on a Peace Corp flight to Southeast Asia, where is assigned to build a bridge for the local villagers with American-As-Apple-Pie WSU Grad Tom Tuttle and the beautiful and down-to earth Beth We...

Directed By: Nicholas Meyer

Written By: Ken Levine, David Isaacs, Keith Critchlow

1985
R
TriStar Pictures
1 h 47 m

1985
R
TriStar Pictures
1 h 47 m

Volunteers

Name: Volunteers
Genre: Adventure, Comedy
Released: 1985-08-16
Duration: 1 min 47 s
Rating: 55
Cast: Tom Hanks, John Candy, Rita Wilson, Tim Thomerson, Gedde Watanabe

Metascore Mixed or Average Based on 8 Critic Reviews

User Score Mixed or Average Based on 5 User Ratings

5.6

My Score

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Where to Watch

Directed By: Nicholas Meyer

Written By: Ken Levine, David Isaacs, Keith Critchlow

Where to Watch

Critic Reviews

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Metascore

Mixed or Average Based on 8 Critic Reviews

38% Positive
3 Reviews

63% Mixed
5 Reviews

0% Negative
0 Reviews

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Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

Critic Reviews

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Metascore

Mixed or Average Based on 8 Critic Reviews

38% Positive
3 Reviews

63% Mixed
5 Reviews

0% Negative
0 Reviews

All Reviews
Positive Reviews
Mixed Reviews
Negative Reviews

The New York Times

Take a healthy helping of Raiders of the Lost Ark, a dollop of The Bridge on the River Kwai, a dash of any Tarzan movie, a soupcon of Casablanca, a whiff of The Wizard of Oz and a stunt or two from a favorite Saturday serial, stir frenetically, and if you're lucky enough to have snappy dialogue by Ken Levine and David Isaacs, you may end up with as funny a movie as Volunteers.

FULL REVIEW

The Globe and Mail (Toronto)

A comedy boasting a gimmick worth a peek. For, into this remembrance of time past and youth altruistic, the script injects a heavy dose of up-to-the-minute pragmatism. [16 Aug 1985]

By Rick Groen FULL REVIEW

Miami Herald

Volunteers is for the most part so good-natured and eager to please, or at least to solicit laughs, that it may be forgiven many sins. Many of the jokes simply don't work, but in the style forged by Airplane!, Volunteers keeps them coming. Wait long enough, you'll laugh; wait again, you'll laugh again. [16 Aug 1985, p.D1]

By Bill Cosford FULL REVIEW

TV Guide Magazine

Hanks is excellent and has a way with funny lines that marks him as one of the better droll comic actors, if given the right material. Here, writers Ken Levine and David Isaacs have provided the actors with solid jokes.

FULL REVIEW

Washington Post

Volunteers is a collection of one-liners, mostly good, wrapped around an undeveloped story, generally dull. Despite its frequent glimmers of intelligence, it's an unsatisfactory comedy that yawns to a close.

By Paul Attanasio FULL REVIEW

Variety

Volunteers is a very broad and mostly flat comedy [from a story by Keith Critchlow] about hijinx in the Peace Corps, circa 1962. Toplined Tom Hanks gets in a few good zingers as an upperclass snob doing time in Thailand, but promising premise and opening shortly descend into unduly protracted tedium.

FULL REVIEW

Chicago Tribune

It's a shame that this often cute script couldn't have better served, and been better served by, its actors.

By Gene Siskel FULL REVIEW

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User Reviews

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User Score

Mixed or Average Based on 5 User Ratings

5.6

20% Positive
1 Rating

60% Mixed
3 Ratings

20% Negative
1 Rating

User Reviews

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User Score

Mixed or Average Based on 5 User Ratings

5.6

20% Positive
1 Rating

60% Mixed
3 Ratings

20% Negative
1 Rating

There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.

Details

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Production Company HBO Pictures, Silver Screen Partners, TriStar Pictures

Release Date Aug 16, 1985

Duration 1 h 47 m

Rating R

Genres

Tagline Ready or not, here they come

Volunteers

Where to Watch

Where to Watch

Top Cast

Tom Hanks

Lawrence Bourne III

John Candy

Tom Tuttle from Tacoma

Rita Wilson

Beth Wexler

Tim Thomerson

John Reynolds

Gedde Watanabe

At Toon

George Plimpton

Lawrence Bourne Jr.

Ernest Harada

Chung Mee

Allan Arbus

Albert Bardenaro

Xander Berkeley

Kent Sutcliffe

Ji-Tu Cumbuka

Cicero

Guillermo Río

Sumo Guard

Jacqueline Evans

Aunt Eunice

Pamela Gual

Tammy the Stewardess

Philip Guilmant

Yale President

Chick Hearn

Announcer

Virginia Kiser

Evelyn Bourne

Clyde Kusatsu

Souvanna

Jude Mussetter

Bootsy Winder

Carlos Romano

Beatty

Duncan Ross

Noble

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

Critic Reviews

User Reviews

User Reviews

User Reviews

User Reviews

Details

Details

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