Movie Review: Thank You For Your Service

Thank You for Your Service *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Jason Hall.

Written by: Jason Hall based on the book by David Finkel.

Starring: Miles Teller (Sergeant Adam Schumann), Haley Bennett (Saskia Schumann), Beulah Koale (Tausolo Aieti), Joe Cole (Will Waller), Amy Schumer (Amanda Doster), Brad Beyer (Sergeant James Doster), Keisha Castle-Hughes (Alea), Scott Haze (Michael Adam Emory), Omar Dorsey (Dante).

 

You would be forgiven in thinking that a film called Thank You for Your Service is another of those pro-military, overly patriotic films – another way in which America uses their veterans as props instead of treating them like people. Yet, the film really isn’t that – in fact, the title may well be meant somewhat ironically, since saying Thank You for Your Service to a veteran is a way say something to them when you have nothing else, more meaningful to say. The movie argues that a better way to thank veterans for their service would be to give them the support they so desperately need. This is a PTSD drama in which the main characters return from Iraq to an America who doesn’t really know what to do with them. The film has more in common with The Best Years of Our Lives than a John Wayne war film.

 

The film stars Miles Teller as Adam Schumann. It’s 2007, and he and his buddies are just getting out of Iraq – this time, they feel, for the last time. Schumann was a leader in Iraq – a sergeant, in charge of his men, but made decisions over there that haunt him. We see one of them in the first minutes of the film – but we are not really given the full context of it until the end. He returns with two buddies – who are more outwardly messed up than he is. There is Solo Aieti (Beulah Koale), an American Samoan, who is grateful to the military for helping him straighten out his life, but who also experienced a traumantic brain injury over there to go along with his PTSD – all he wants to do is get back to his unit, despite his is loving, and now pregnant, wife at home – and he never quite grasps that they are never going to let him back. There is Will Waller (Joe Cole), who outwardly seems fine, yet he returns to find his fiancé has left him – moved out of their house, with the child they had raised together, and all of their stuff. This pushes him even further over the edge.

 

The film was written and directed by Jason Hall, the screenwriter of Clint Eastwood’s American Sniper – another film that I didn’t feel was quite the ra-ra pro-military film that many did. I do wonder however if the (correct) criticism of that movie – that it depicted PTSD as something the main character just “got over” in the span of about 10 minutes of screentime inspired this film – which makes it clear that it is not something like that. This film depicts the hard road veterans face when they return – faced with loved ones who don’t know what to say, and a heartless bureaucracy – containing many people who may want to help, but whose hands are tied, and are unable to actually do very much.

 

Teller is very good in the central role – playing the silent, every man here, who wants nothing else than appear strong for everyone, even though he’s breaking inside. As his wife, Haley Bennett is also quite good – she wants to help, but doesn’t know what to do. Newcomer Beulah Koale as Solo is even better. He’s unable to even tell what’s wrong with him, and is in danger of slipping down a deep slope. I admire Amy Schumer’s attempt at serious (read: not comedic) acting here as a war widow, but her role is underwritten, and she is given the most on the nose dialogue in the film that and is unable to quite make it work (I’m not sure anyone could though).

 

The film is perhaps a little too forthright and square jawed for its own good. Hall is an effective, but unflashly director of the material. I admired the screenplay more than the direction – even with its sometimes clunky dialogue – as it doesn’t try to force these characters into a standard issue plot, but rather lets them find their own story as it goes.

 

I fear that the studio picked the wrong time of year to release this film. This is the time where serious dramas need Oscar buzz to draw much of an audience – and as good as the film is, it isn’t going to the Oscars this year. It’s a strong, solid film – a grown up drama, made by a major studio – which itself is a rarity. It’s also much better than I feared it would be. It deserves an audience – and hopefully, will find one.