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Surprised to see the rather low score for this movie. Just saw this film for the first time in 10 years, and was reminded why I like it.

Come back with me, children, to a time when Michael Keaton was a straight-up comedy guy, and you might find some joy in this film. It's a gentle comedy -- the kind Ron Howard specializes in -- but if that's your thing, you should check this out. Keaton's low-key charm is just right for this project.

"Gung Ho" is a bit dated, because it takes places in the last stage of the pre-global economy world, when it still mattered what country a business was based in. That said, it delivers laughs as well as a lesson on how people can learn from each other, to great benefit.

You could watch this film and enjoy it without remembering one scene in particular you really liked, but that's because the whole movie provides a slow but constant stream of laughs. It's like an I.V. drip. And I mean that in a good way.

With no laughs but with important messages, "Gung Ho" manages to be a reflexive entertainment about the cultural and economical clashes of two nations when they join forces to rise from the ashes an automobile factory that can be the only hope of saving a town. Michael Keaton plays an American executive who gets the job of rescuing such factory with a new leadership coming from Japan with a desperate executive (Gedde Watanabe) trying to save his career from potential failure. The latter's task is to command the American plant and their workers, accustomed to work in a particular way, trying impose the Oriental methods of working for long hours for the benefit of the company and such clashes with the interests of Keaton who's trying to look good before his friends who aren't used to such working journey.

But let's face it: the movie isn't funny. Babaloo Mandel and Lowell Ganz are terrific writers ("Splash", "Parenthood") but they didn't create much moments we could say they were funny, most of the time is just using of caricatures to make some amusing moments, they barely work, maybe two or three scenes. Their concentration to the more engaging aspects was what made "Gung Ho" something really worth seeing. It pokes fun on the culture comparisons between U.S., specially when it comes to both nations traditions but it also establishes a greater sense of supporting each other, one might be better than the other but only together they come up with something bigger, better and stronger. Having a movie like this made on a decade where American superiority was presented in every single movie and also in politics is something of a miracle. It basically says: "We're no longer the strongest nation in the world, neither the most efficient but we can aspire to be if we follow some other examples around the world". Sure, it doesn't paint a fair picture for both sides (Japanese as workaholics who can't contest their bosses and Americans as lazy and incompetent), often recurring to stereotypes but presents something good out of those.

Although a little sloppy, clichéd and never serious enough, "Gung Ho" can be used as a source of inspiration, at least for those who have a company and doesn't know how to bring out the best with their employs, it's always there to bring out of the best of a team, push them to the limits and show them the advantages of following new directives. I know this movie is something of a classic between Administration students in here, and most of them enjoy it. Out of this department, it might be a disappointment for Keaton and Ron Howard fans, they're not at their best. The supporting cast formed with the likes of Mimi Rogers, George Wendt, John Turturro, Rance and Clint Howard save this for a bit, but the most interesting in scene is Watanabe, the funniest in the show.

In the end, it reaches its purpose of presenting a parallel between cultures, but never takes our fully enjoyment, neither much of our laughs. Easy to watch and quite motivational though. 7/10

I think it great example of the differences between two cultures. It would be a great movie to show in a sociology class. I thought it was pretty funny and I must say that i am a sucker for that "lets band together and get the job done" plot device. It seems most people don't realize that this movie is not just a comedy. It has a few dramatic elements in it as well and I think they blend in nicely. Overall, I give it a solid 8.

... and I'll get to how it is a time capsule in a moment.

Directed by Ron Howard, the film is about a Japanese car company that decides to buy up a shuttered American car factory in a town where it was the major source of employment. There is friction because of the numerous cultural/work culture differences between the Japanese management and the American workers. The main work problem is that the Japanese think "team" and the American workers on the line are individualists. Michael Keaton stars as Hunt Stevenson, who is promoted to liason between the American workers and the Japanese management. His problem is that he doesn't want to tell the unvarnished truth to the workers, and this gets him into trouble when he tells a lie he just can't take back that could mean the end of the plant. Gedde Watanabe plays the Japanese manager of the plant who is trying to go against his nature of caring about the home life of the workers and be "tough" so that the factory will be considered a success by the CEO back in Japan. Eventually he and Hunt form a friendship of sorts.

George Wendt of "Cheers" fame plays a worker who gets demoted to janitor. John Turturro is practically unrecognizable as another factory worker in a small part before the Coen brothers discovered him. If Ron Howard is directing then Clint Howard is not far away, usually playing a bit part, and that is true here too. Oh, if you are expecting the Michael Keaton of Birdman and Spotlight, then you are in for a surprise. This is the rather smart mouth character Keaton started out playing in the early 80s. Think of Bill Blazejowski of 1982's "Night Shift" (also directed by Ron Howard) but with a much bigger I.Q.

Why is this a time capsule and will probably be hard for you to find? When the American workers get angry they refer to their Japanese bosses with terms such as "rice a roni". Also, when Michael Keaton goes up to see the boss he refers to his Japanese secretary as "sugar puss". He isn't flirting, but that still would never make the grade in an American film today. George Wendt's character gets drunk and basically bullies and harasses the big boss' wife in a supermarket one day. Everybody just writes the episode off as the guy being angry about his demotion, as though that is acceptable behavior! It's just funny to have seen this in the theater back in 1986 and realize how much times have changed.

I'd recommend it as a great look back and as a comedic take on some of the economic issues confronting Americans in the 1980s. That decade was not as prosperous and carefree as you might have been led to believe.

This is quite an entertaining comedy starring Michael Keaton as car manufacturer Hunt Stevenson, whose car company was bought out by a Japanese firm. So, he tries to rally his American workers together to work at the plant for lesser pay and being subjected to harsher work conditions and schedules by the Japanese managers.

There is plenty of comedy relief in the film, from culture clashes to slapstick humor. There's also bits of heroism in the film, including Hunt's town's survival being contingent on the car company staying afloat and including Japanese company manager Oishi Kazihiro (Gedde Watanabe) showing honor to his boss, colleagues and family in getting the car making job done.

Overall, an entertaining film with touches of Americana and Japanese cultures.

Grade B+