I hated it because it sucked

It is not very funny. There were some jokes that made me crack a smile but nothing that really made me laugh. The plot was thin and there was no character other than Stack that I really cared about. Also, some of the direction is a bit sloppy. Case in point, Murray Hamilton and Eddie Deesen switch places on the ferris wheel. I don't hate it but it is a disappointment. There are some good things about it. The special effects and cinematography is excellent.

I think you were criticizing the tastefulness (for want of a better word) of the comedy. I am saying that time (30 some years) diminishes that. Comedians are presently talking about 9/11 all the time. How long was it after when that photoshopped "tourist" at the top of one of the towers appeared?
Beside that, the humor is so over the top - I don't see how you can go anywhere into a serious conversation about anything.
1941 is a disjointed, irreverent, goofy, fast paced, and very funny wild ride. That's it.
You just have to be resigned-
You're crashing by design

Psychologically, they are quite similar. Californians could certainly have suspected they were the next targets, and the Japanese could be there any moment.
I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

Not the same thing. Hawaii is over 2500 miles from California. And the Pearl Harbor attack was 38 years before the film. Those are big distances in miles and time.
You just have to be resigned-
You're crashing by design

Apparently, Spielberg and Zemeckis think it's hilarious! to have a "comedy" mocking Californians who would understandably be scared after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
Would Spielberg think that it would also have been hilarious! to have a comedy mocking New Yorkers who were understandably scared after the Muslim attacks of 9/11?
As out of it as Spielberg is, I am guessing so. Many of his fellow Jews ranged from confused to horrified when he used Nazis as cartoon villains in the Indiana Jones movies.
Maybe "Schindler's List" was Spielberg's way of trying to regain credibility among his fellow Jews. But, here with "1941," he's clearly oblivious.
I. Drink. Your. Milkshake! [slurp!] I DRINK IT UP! - Daniel Plainview - There Will Be Blood

Too many notes. (from Amadeus)
Keith Moon was the greatest 'Keith Moon Style' drummer ever!!

As few others have mentioned, it was Spielberg's attempt to make his own screwball/madcap comedy similar to "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad World" and other big budget comedies from the mid-1960's that featured large all-star casts and lots and lots of yelling. Essentially, he was trying to make a comedy similar to ones that he grew-up loving. However, it didn't work.
Instead "1941" turned-out to be an overlong mess that tries WAY too hard to generate the few laughs it does and with a sense of humor that came across as dated in the post-"Animal House" world of 1979. Even Spielberg refers to "1941" as his "unfunny comedy." Yes, it's a spectacle and, at times, it's an amusing one, but it fails at being a "gut buster."
Another big problem was the casting of Bobby Di Cicco and Dianne Kay as the two "leads." Who? Good question. It was a good question in 1979, too. Yes, Dianne Kay was gorgeous, but she wasn't a comedic actress.

I think because it is 2 1/2 hours of AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH.!
The war is not meant to be won it is meant to be
continuous
.

I saw an edit of "1941" without people screaming and jumping through the air. It was 5 minutes long.

It's entertaining, and I love the visuals, but most of the humor is sorely misfired. There is an over-reliance on slapstick and obvious sexual innuendo. The humor is at its best when it is deadpan.
Zemeckis and Gale's original script was supposed to be more of a dark satire. I think the film would have been much funnier had Spielberg chosen this route. (Think the same tone as "An American Werewolf in London".)
Originality needs a reboot.

The SNL crew are among the least funny actors I ever saw. Their schtick just does not travel beyond the US in my opinion.
An ironic statement, considering that "1941" was received much more warmly abroad than it was in the states.
Originality needs a reboot.

The SNL crew are among the least funny actors I ever saw. Their schtick just does not travel beyond the US in my opinion. I dislike most of the output of people like Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, John Candy,Will Ferrell and my list goes on and on. Even Steve Martin is uneven in his output.
1941 is, put simply, boring and unamusing. I find it incredible that a filmmaker as great as Spielberg could not make a credible comedy. You can see a great deal of money was spent on it but expense does not translate into funny.

I gave this flick 45 minutes, WAITING for it to get better. It just wasn't funny.
Belushi chasing the plane, shooting into the air? He LOOKED like HE couldn't believe he was doing it.
And every scene was just, that, contrived.
Zemeckis, Gale and Milius ARE good at what they do. But, trying to write for that crowd, back then, they missed the target.

It appears that most of these critics are parroting what real film critics says.

It was on last night here. I agree, far from a bad film but a curate's egg to watch. I really like the get in the back of the tank gag though ;O)
Marlon, Claudia and Dimby the cats 1989-2005, 2007 and 2010.

This isn't a particularly bad film, and I have a certain fondness for it (John William's score is great, actually). But sometimes the movie was too desperate, as if it was shrilling proclaiming, "This is FUNNY! You must LAUGH!" Whenever a movie does that, the last thing I'm going to do is laugh. Sounds like I'm not the only one who felt that way.

The people who don't like it are just little bitches. This is a perfectly good film. Even people that I've met who are a part of mainstream society enjoy this film. The critics in these IBDb boards need to get a Kotex and go to bed.

I really wanted to like this movie. I liked all the actors. I actually thought it was set to be a classic with this cast, but I found it way too predictable. finally, at the end when Ned Beatty was trying to shoot down the sub, there were some spontaneous shots. It just lacked the fun of other films of this time. Compare to Animal House.

My problem with it is that it feels messy. There were to many characters to keep up with which made the plot hard to follow.
Plus it wasn't that funny. A satire is meant to be funny but it wasn't at all. I just got bored.

I can't remember what I don't like. I thought the whole thing was a fun roller-coaster. Very stylish too, if I remember correctly. You've just reminded me to check it again.

It's clear that this movie was way over your head and you missed the point entirely.

Wild Bill doesn't "defect," he surrenders. He may be crazy, but he's not stupid.

For the following reasons:
The Characters.
There were too many, and not all of them were worth following along with. More than a few were way out of place, and thus didn't work when it came to being funny (the Nazi officer on board the Jap sub who could only speak German is a huge example). As mentioned in this thread, a number of comedians were wasted in their specific roles. IMO, if there had been a few less characters in this movie, it may have been funnier, and more direct.
The Subject Matter.
There are ways in which a parody/satire/sendup can really work. Movies like
Airplane!
and
Hot Shots!
work because of their subject matter, where they parody one genre in particular in a certain way which makes it hilarious.
1941
fell flat because WWII was a real war, and they tried to parody something that was still fresh in a lot of people's minds at the time. They played on the hysteria that rocked America in the days following the attack on Pearl Harbor, along with the belief that Japanese forces were planning an invasion of mainland USA. And to portray that the US military was incapable of handling such a threat was just downright disrespectful to the real US military of the day, when compared to history.
The Film's Length.
Yeah, this was an issue to me. It could've been half an hour or more shorter than it was, and it would've told a better story.
Other Little Things:
Wild Bill defecting to the Japs after spending the whole movie preaching how great America was.
The US military bombing one of its own cities, and firing on its own air force.
Eddie Deezen.
The Japanese weren't funny. Also, they were the only ones that didn't suffer any kind of setback that befell virtually everybody else.
There was next to no character development. Hell, even today's crappy parody movies have more than this movie did.
The announcement that 1942 would be a much crazier year in the war. Yeah, like the Fall of Singapore, the bombing of Darwin, the Battle of Java, the Burma Railway, Kokoda, Guadalcanal and that's just the Pacific theatre. Try making a comedy out of all that!!!
They call me the wanderer.