Treatment of our veterans is an embarrassment. Reforming the VA and seeking adequate medical attention for United States soldiers should be a top-10 priority for every administration. Now, let me preface here – I am not always or even often a fan of how our military is used. Often since WWII, we have pulled the trigger, so-to-speak, far too early in opting for a military solution and often that solution has been counterproductive. That said, any being willing to fight and die for whatever he/she/they believe the United States is all about deserves, IMHO, the best and promptest medical attention our country has to offer. Do we believe in this or not, Americans?
Adam, Solo, and Will (Miles Teller, Beulah Koale, and Joe Cole) return from war in Iraq. The smiles betray inner turmoil. Will gets the ultimate bait-and-switch – he thinks he’s going to be married when he gets home. He even protests bachelor party arrangements. When Will arrives, however, his house is empty. Like empty-empty, not even photographs or furniture. That’s cold. It’s one thing if you half-ass a “welcome home” banner and burn the celebratory cake; she isn’t even there, and took all the evidence she’d been there. The eventual reunion scene turns into a suicide. Yikes. Well, I suppose “laugh riot” is off the table for this film, huh?
Currently lacking a protagonist, the movie calls upon Adam and Solo to shoulder the burden. Adam looks stable; he’s clearly going to have trouble finding a job and doesn’t quite get the duties of parenthood yet, but he has purpose, we think. His wife Saskia (Haley Bennett) is a fighter and if you can’t figure out a reason to be stable with two small children in the house, God help you. Solo is already showing cracks in the veneer. His memory is shot and all he wants to do is get back to Iraq. In lieu of Iraq, hey, a wicked drug habit is a thing, right? Let’s ask his fiancée Alea (Keisha Castle-Hughes) whether she’d rather deal with PTSD or ride whales. My money’s on the cetaceans.
After Solo breaks, Luke Skywalker ain’t far behind. In a way, Adam has benefitted from Will’s suicide – it means Adam’s depression has to be taken seriously. And along Adam’s self-doubt, the film introduces a curiously un-comic role from Amy Schumer as a war widow. Wait. You put Amy Schumer in a dramatic role. Well, kudos for original thought. Kinda underscores precisely 
how un-fun this film is, though, huh? “ … with Chris Rock as the bitter quadriplegic and Jim Carrey as the rectal cancer victim …”
Thank You for Your Service sells itself as a war film, which is kind of like calling Cobb a baseball film. War certainly drives everything that happens in the picture, but the movie is far more about how the players react months after what they’ve experienced than the actual experience itself. The film is about getting Adam and Solo to figure out how to avoid self-destruction. This is the meat of the picture – this is what PTSD is like, this is what it does, this is how it’s treated, and this is the reality for so many veterans. We choose to war with terrorism; we choose to interpret that war as a need to invade places like Iraq and Afghanistan. These are the consequences. Battles aren’t just fought abroad, but these are the ones that rarely get attention.
Returning from intense battle corps
Lonely soldiers with prospects poor
Sanity destroyed
And underemployed
Well, heck, who’s up for another war?
Rated R, 108 Minutes
Director: Jason Hall
Writer: Jason Hall
Genre: The consequences of foreign policy
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Veterans
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Hawks
