The Greatest Beer Run Ever

1967. John "Chickie" Donohue, working on a merchant ship out of New York, sails to Saigon with a duffel bag of Pabst Blue Ribbon to raise the spirits of his friends from the neighbourhood. The idea is absurd and the execution more so; then he is caught in the middle of the Tet Offensive. Peter Farrelly directed. Zac Efron plays Donohue and Russell Crowe plays the photographer Arthur Coates. It runs 126 minutes. Filming took place in Thailand and New Jersey, produced by Skydance Media and distributed through Apple Studios. It premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival on 13 September 2022 and went to Apple TV+ on 30 September 2022. The reviews were cold. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 43 percent, the consensus saying it reduces its fun fact-based story to a flat, flavorless brew. Metacritic gives it 39. One exception came from former Secretary of State John Kerry, who called it a poignant reminder for the Vietnam generation. Who it is for: viewers who like true war stories and are curious about Farrelly after Green Book. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a position on the war. The film is about Donohue waking up, and it leaves the Vietnamese almost entirely in the background.