Series Overview
Starting with amusing and mildly raunchy and anarchic, running into solid slapstick, dipping into terrible and incomprehensibly free-form, occasionally insufferable and ending with a sense of retired peace, the Police Academy movies are actually a more important footnote in American film comedy than we ordinary like to acknowledge. They were, for better or worse, a powerful comic presence in the 1980s, and are simultaneously mocked and praised for representing the decade.
I’m not exactly sure what made the films so popular. None of them are as funny as other comedies from the era (Top Secret! comes to mind) that had no sequels or follow-ups. Perhaps it was just the vague durability of the material that made for easy sequels. If you have vaguely charming comic archetypes in an intentionally ill-defined universe, the comic possibilities are endless. Plus the production values are low. I guess the success of the Police Academy movies are more a testament to savvy production, and less to comedic power.
Part 3 was clearly the standout of the series, and told its jokes the best. The first two are amusing, and perhaps worth a look if you can get into the trenches of stupid comedy. I encourage you to, however, stay away from parts 4-7, unless, of course, you are a mad completist like myself.
The biggest pleasures to be had, though, are, as I have said, from Leslie Easterbrook and David Graf. The low points are, however, pretty low, and when the joke are dumb, they’re really dumb.
Be sure to join me next week for a new adventure in The Series Project!
Witney Seibold is a featured contributor on the CraveOnline Film Channel, co-host of The B-Movies Podcast and co-star of The Trailer Hitch. You can read his weekly articles B-Movies Extended, Free Film School and The Series Project, and follow him on “Twitter” at @WitneySeibold, where he is slowly losing his mind.
