Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
New rules enforced by the Lady Mayoress mean that sex, weight, height and intelligence need no longer be a factor for joining the Police Force. This opens the floodgates for all and sundry to enter the Police Academy, much to the chagrin of the instructors. Not everyone is there through choice, though. Social misfit Mahoney has been forced to sign up as the only alternative to a jail sentence and it doesn't take long before he falls foul of the boorish Lieutenant Harris. But before long, Mahoney realises that he is enjoying being a police cadet and decides he wants to stay... while Harris decides he wants Mahoney out!
Police Academy is a cheerfully lowbrow 1984 comedy that rode the wave of raunchy ensemble comedies. The plot is thin and episodic — a loose string of gags rather than a cohesive narrative, with a predictable arc for Mahoney. The acting is serviceable and energetic; the ensemble cast (Guttenberg, Kim Cattrall, Bubba Smith, Michael Winslow) brings genuine comic timing and personality, elevating the material. Cinematography is purely functional with no visual ambition. Novelty earns a modest bump for its specific ensemble formula and memorable character archetypes that were genuinely fresh at the time and spawned an entire franchise, though it drew heavily on earlier raunchy comedies. The ending is formulaic and rushed, wrapping up predictably. A fun, fondly remembered crowd-pleaser that defined a subgenre without transcending it.