As the father of two small kids, I hardly ever get out to the movies any more. On the rare occasions that I do, the selection process almost always involves a vicious compromise with my wife that leaves me in the dark staring at something just this side of Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood.

In seven years of marriage I've only found one exception to this rule: if I can find a macho/war/blow stuff up/action thriller starring a leading man that my wife has a bit of a crush on she'll be willing to sit through it. Thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal, I'm still holding out hope I have a slim chance of seeing Jarhead, the adaptation of Anthony Swofford's 2003 book about his experiences as a Marine in the first Gulf War that opens in theaters today. 

Here is a great review by Jonathan Last at The Weekly Standard, and another one by David Edelstein at Slate. Mother Jones is also running an interview with Swofford here.

UPDATE: David Denby review in the New Yorker. (via Galley Slaves).

UPDATE II: Donald Sensing, retired Army officer and father of a Marine currently serving in Iraq, gives Jarhead three out of five bayonets.