Stripes

Purposeless slob Murray loses car (repossessed), apartment and girlfriend (thrown out) all in the same day, and on a whim joins the US Army; a decision he spends most of the film regretting. Though the overall tone is as unquestioning of the virtues of the military life - discipline, duty, honour, etc - as was Private Benjamin, at least at its centre Murray is a genuine couldn't-give-a-shit character for the early '80s. Reitman, who also originated Animal House and Meatballs, manages a reasonable success rate at pulling off the numerous verbal and sight gags with which the script is peppered.