This is Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis' first STARRING film--some reviews have said that this was their first film, though this was "My Friend Irma" from the previous year and "My Friend Irma Goes West" came out a few months before "At War With the Army". Because it was such an early film, the style and chemistry of the movie certainly isn't what you might expect for the team. The first big difference you'll notice is Jerry's musical number in his first scene! The next is that there really isn't much chemistry between them--as if it's a "Martin VERSUS Lewis" film! All too often, Dean yells at Jerry--and there's nothing all that funny about this. Any sort of camaraderie between them is missing. And, oddly, Jerry plays a guy who is married! The film is an army comedy--a type of film that was very popular around 1940-1941 but had a bit of a resurgence in the 1950s--with films like this one, "No Time for Sergeants" and "Jumping Jacks". Compared to such classic films as these plus "Caught in the Draft", "Buck Privates" and "Tanks a Million", "At War With the Army" comes up very short--mostly because it just doesn't have the laughs or chemistry the other films had.

Before joining the Army, Jerry and Dean had been friends. Now, Dean's a sergeant and Jerry is a lowly private. And, quite often, Dean bosses Jerry about--sort of like some sort of slave. But most of the film consists of Jerry doing his thing and Dean doing his--and not at all like a team. As a result, the overall plot isn't particularly good but the viewer instead is waiting for good moments--little gems that appear here and there. One of the best is seeing Jerry in drag--he made a very, very interesting (and hairy) blonde! The reaction of everyone in the bar was priceless! And, some of the songs aren't bad. But again, these are only moments within an otherwise humdrum film.

Overall, this is a film that is a must-see for Martin & Lewis fans...otherwise, eminently skip-worthy!

While Ray Evans and Jay Livingston may have had some song hits still sung today, don't expect to hear any of them in this military comedy that made me long for Abbott and Costello or Joe E. Brown or Bob Hope or Laurel and Hardy or Durante and Keaton or any of the other comics who did films about buffoons serving their country. Lewis and Martin have always been an acquired taste, and this first pairing in the lead after the two Irma films left me thinking that I had just eaten something rancid.

First of all, there's no real plotline, just a bunch of extremely dated sketches featuring Jerry Lewis and giving the opportunity for Dean Martin to sing some forgettable melodys even he's had better songs. Jerry Lewis can't decide if he's being a thinner version of Lou Costello or an updated version of Stan Laurel, going from persona to persona, and giving one of the worst drag impressions in film history. It's definitely the one time that cross-dressing in movies was a drag.

Mike Kellin plays the typical beleaguered sergeant, and Dean Martin outside of his singing and romancing isn't very likeable. I expected to see a lot more of Polly Bergen, having appeared in a few B westerns, and unfortunately, she has very little to do. As for the other women in the ensemble, they are Paramount lot starlets who didn't have much screen presence, either stereotypically sweet or blandly bad. A handful of laughs made me cringe that I found any of this funny. This is not amore. This is a-messy.

It's hard now to imagine how popular this comedy team was around 1950. Everyone with a television set seemed tuned in to their Colgate Comedy Hour in which the routines were usually similar: the silly Jerry Lewis was Lou Costello and the self-confident Dean Martin was Bud Abbott. Martin insulted Lewis constantly, shoving him around, and Lewis helped with his whiny voice and puppet-like postures.

The show was risqué for its time. They once used the word "broad" to refer to a woman. They came close to using a forbidden word when they exclaimed, "What the -- HEY!" When they broke up a few years later it was tragic, like the Beatles breaking up a generation later.

This production is true to form. Lewis whines, makes faces, and falls down. Martin orders him around and treats him with scorn. It appears to be a hurried version of a stage play made during the war years. Basically, there is a single set, the Captain's office and the Admittance Room or whatever it's called. Dean Martin is Top Sergeant (after having been in the Army for only five years) and Lewis is a PFC.

There are a couple of songs, limitlessly forgettable, a stunning solo on the alto sax by Dick Stabile as Punky, and a spot-on impersonation of "Going My Way," with Lewis as Barry Fitzgerald's priest and Martin passing convincingly for Bing Crosby.

It doesn't seem very funny now. People rush in and out of rooms and shout at one another. Lewis somehow winds up dressed as a blond girl in a beer parlor but the jokes seem weak. After their split, both performers went on to more ambitious and better things.