Rating: 
Summary: Watchable, But Nothing To Write Home About
Review: Seemingly suggested by a combination of Bob Hope's legendary USO tours and the toxic relationship that sometimes develops between comedy team partners (with the likes of Martin and Lewis a case in point), FOR THE BOYS gives us the story of Dixie Leonard (Midler), a rough and tough singer with a naughty sense of humor, and Eddie Sparks (James Caan), a secretly sexist comic. When the two meet on a World War II USO tour, it's loathing at first sight--but their audiences adore the combination.Trouble is, you can't imagine why. Both Midler and Caan are expert performers, but they have remarkably little on-screen chemistry, and although they score points individually they never quite seem to be working in tandem. To make matters worse, while the dialogue is often witty, the plot is leaden, and it promptly goes off into a host of predictable directions as it drags its characters from World War II to Vietnam in order to make a series of well-intended but extremely obvious and over-worked comments about changing times and the wastefulness of war. The supporting cast is strong, but like the leads they seem to be pulling in different directions throughout the film, and when all is said and done this rather lengthy film feels quite a bit longer than it actually is. Midler's songs are the only real highlight, and the thing is indeed watchable... but only just. The DVD package isn't anything to write home about either, consisting of a handful of trailers and television spots. For hardcore Midler fans only. GFT, Amazon Reviewer
Rating: 
Summary: BETTE WAS ROBBED YET A SECOND TIME AT THE OSCARS!
Review: The only reason Miss Midler didn't win that year, (Jodie Foster won for Silence of the Lambs) was because 'For the Boys' was a box-office dud. I wish back then the marketing executives at 20th Century Fox would've sold this movie a little better. First of all the soundtrack had two possible mega hits, 'In My Life' the Beatles' tune in which Bette's renditon turned into an emotionally packed moment in the movie. I get a lump in the throat every time I see it. The other tune, 'Every road leads Back to you', like 'Wind beneath my wings' is a wonderful song reflecting on a bumpy and long, yet close and loving friendship. These songs should've been airing over the radio way before the movie was released. Secondly, 'For the boys' was pitted against 'Beauty and the Beast' and 'Addams Family' when it was released. It's no wonder this movie got shoved aside. As for the movie itself, it's evident that Miss Midler poured her soul and guts into the whole project. Yes, the movie does try to cover a lot of war-history in 2 1/2 hours, but Bette as Dixie and her love-hate relationship with Caan as Eddie do have an appealing quality despite all their tumultuus bickering behind the scenes of entertaining the boys. Critics complained about how awful the aging makeup looked on Midler and Caan. Well my argumnent to them is, when you see an elderly performers win a lifetime acheivement award on TV, aren't they supposed to look somewhat gray and wrinkled...Or do all aged show biz icons have to look like Joan Collins and Dick Clark? Nevertheless, the scene of Dixies's first time singing with the troops in 1942 is the reason why people love to see Bette....I just wish more people would have done so when this was released in 1991. TL
Rating:
Summary: For the fans ...
Review: The people that are going to LOVE this movie are all the die-hard Midler fans that are out there. Basically, I bought the DVD Norma Rae starring Sally Field, and included with the extra features of that disc was a trailer of For the Boys, and the scene that was featured in the trailer was the one where Bette sings "In My Life" in Vietnam, with snippets of the rest of the movie playing over her singing, and the boys holding up peace signs at the end of the song. Well, perhaps needless to say I CRIED MY EYES OUT just watching the trailer. I found out soon after that she was nominated for an Academy Award for this movie, and I bought it cheap. At first I didn't like it at all, but after watching it a second time found it much better. Probably the worst thing about this goings-on was seeing the heartbreaking trailer before the movie; I was just expecting a better movie. Before this I thought Bette Midler to be annoying and insincere, but ... she is what she is. If you can find this DVD on sale for cheap somewhere, go for it like I did.
Rating: 
Summary: One of the Best movies of all time!!
Review: This is one of the most entertaining movies of all time. If you like period movies or a movie that is set place during war time this movie is it, you get them all.
Rating:
Summary: Another soft spoken wonder
Review: This movie is great the way it sneaks up at you and touches your heart. It makes you feel wonderful and sad all at the same time, and makes you evaluate your life
Rating: 
Summary: absolutely dreadful in spite of Midler's fine singing
Review: This movie is very boring. The main characters, played by Midler and James Caan, are both unappealing and unconvincing. Anguished yelling to convey deep feeling doesn't work in real life or in a movie. We somehow, also, were able to predict outcomes of most scenes. Fast-forwarding over a few scenes took nothing away from the adolescent story line. Good instead of a sleeping pill. Why did these fine performers make this film?
Rating:
Summary: bette you have outdone yourself!
Review: This movie was so touching.Just to think about all those wars.but what killed me was when dixie's son dies.i cried all the way.but what a comedy team Bette Midler + James Cann.I loved tfhis movie!I hope you will to.
Rating:
Summary: For The Desperate.
Review: This was one of those movies that really sounded great with possibilities, but just fell flat. The premise of two show-biz veterans, who have a love/hate (mostly hate) relationship, through 50 years of entertaining together in the U.S.O., television, amid changing public tastes, tragedies, ups, downs, wars, etc...should have made for a very entertaining saga. And, with Bette Midler as the musical female lead, how could it miss? Well, it did. Though it gets off to a promising start, and her number "Stuff Like That There" early in the film brings down the house in true Bette style, it went downhill from there. James Caan is opposite her as her sexist partner/nemesis, whose pairing with her, though a big success career wise, is rife with rivalry and contempt for the very success that the fluke of their pairing produces. They chew the scenery often, and certain scenes, such as when Bette's characters son is killed in front of her in VietNam, where she is entertaining, that are so stupidly overwrought that they are rendered emotionless. I actually went to a theater to see this movie, something I don't often do. What I still remember most about that experience is the collective audience reaction, of incredulous hilarity, when the "aged" Midler and Caan's characters meet after many years of non-communication for a begrudged public reunion. This is by far the worst "aging" make-up job that I have ever seen in a big budget motion picture... all the improbability of this movie came to a ridiculous head at the viewing of these supposed very elderly stars, who look more like burn victims, in mid-meltdown, than any elderly person I've ever known. This is a very over-long disappointment, the only value of which will be in a few musical clips that will no doubt be used in the inevitable retrospective of Bette Midler's career. Best forgotten, which it mostly is.
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