Smile and smile again

POLICE ACADEMY (1984)

Reviewed by Jerry Saravia

Frequent laughs dominate "Police Academy," a 1984 comedy that lampoons, I'd gather, police academies. Still, for the number of scattershot laughs and humorous situations, "Police Academy" is generally high on the goofy meter. It gets off on general goofiness and goofball characters to muster enough to get by as an adequate comedy.

Steve Guttenberg is Mahoney, a parking lot attendant who is forced to join the police academy or else he will be jailed. He is one of many proposed cadets to the police academy which has abandoned strict credentials, such as an education, to join. Why? I dunno but this is merely the template for some cartoonish types. There is Larvell Jones (Michael Winslow), who mimics various sounds; George Martin (Andrew Rubin), a Spanish lothario who beds any and every woman; Kim Cattrall as a female cadet whom Mahoney keeps his eye on; Eugene Tackleberry (David Graf), a former security guard who is gun-obsessed, volatile and ready for action; Leslie Barbara (Donovan Scott), a desperately whiny sissy; and Moses Hightower (Bubba Smith), the intimidating former flower-shop owner whose stare is enough to bring anyone down on their knees. Short-tempered Lt. Harris (G.W. Bailey) is responsible for making sure these cadets quit, per the Chief of Police's orders. 

"Police Academy" could have been excessively raunchy and downright mean-spirited like the following year's  moronic and racist comedy, "Night Patrol," but it opts for easygoing laughs that do not gross out or bludgeon you till your numb. I love watching Bailey's Lt. Harris losing his cool (used to far better effect than the tired shenanigans of 1987's "Mannequin") in front of the cadets, or getting fooled by Larvell's mimicking of a police transmitter (in fact, anytime Winslow's Larvell shows up on screen, it is hilarious). The scene where a fight instructor holds down Leslie between her legs had me rolling with laughter. Even scenes that could have fallen flat are juiced up and make me smile, such as the visit to the Blue Oyster club or the marvelous George Gaynes as Commandant Lassard who receives special oral treatment behind the podium.

"Police Academy" is miles ahead of its sequels, far too many to mention and none nearly as fun as this one. I would not call "Police Academy" uproarious or even close to the Zucker (ZAZ) brand of comedy spoofs but as a pleasing hour and a half of general goofiness, it will do. Laughs are scattershot but smiles are aplenty.