Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach

Those Academy imbeciles are back!

...and this time there are plenty of golf balls to slip on. Never before have I laughed so long and so hard at a man slipping on a golf ball. Captain Harris lost his trouser because the silly man who makes the sounds made an amusing beeping noise.

This deeply complex and inventive script hits all the right targets and the viewer will often find themselves gasping for air and choking on their own tonsil due to incessant laughing.

A fat man eats a donut and the jam squirts out. I cracked my kidney laughing. I've never been so amused ever - the donut had jam in it and the pressure of the bite caused the jam to break free of its outer casing.

A shot in the feet: this film marks, for me, the decline of the franchise.

In the fifth film in the “Police Academy” franchise, we follow the characters that everyone already knows on a trip to Miami for a national police convention where veteran Commander Lassard, about to retire and leave the command of the academy, will be rewarded. The script is decent enough, but we can't ignore that, after four films, the comic material is worn out and doesn't make us laugh like it used to. The production's solution was to change location, which was not as effective as one might think: in other films we had already had lots of beach jokes.

The film retains many familiar faces from everyone who has seen the previous films. However, it was unable to bring together the entire cast, not counting Steve Guttenberg, Tim Kazurinsky and Bob Goldthwait, actors who chose not to be part of this project and who had their relevance (especially Guttenberg) in the previous films. As a direct consequence, the film pays more attention to actors who had remained in the shadows, such as Bubba Smith, who performs well here. Michael Winslow, Leslie Easterbrook, George Graf and Marion Ramsey are also present in this film, but they limit themselves to doing more than they had before, and their collaboration is nothing new. George Gaynes also has more protagonism here, and the actor exploited it very well, but it is the duo formed by Lance Kinsey and G. W. Bailey that makes us laugh and steals all the attention thanks to their mischief. Matt McCoy was particularly weak and doesn't deserve to continue in the franchise.

Technically, the film retains many aspects of the previous films in the franchise, such as the costumes, cinematography and effects. It takes advantage of the aerial scenes and landscapes of Miami, with its hotels and wetlands, but I got the feeling that the location was chosen to allow as many girls in bikinis as possible. The settings are decent, although sometimes there are problems (that plane door that is easily ripped off and proves to be light is, of course, fake). The film is not long, wastes no time and was well edited, but the final scene in the swamp is disappointing: I think it was the third time that a “Police Academy” film ended with a random chase, and what was done here it is virtually a copy of a similar scene in another film in the franchise.

I don't know. As an adult, yeah, this is a HORRIBLE installment.

But as a kid, I actually thought it was still pretty good, still pretty funny, still slap stick and stupid, and everything I wanted from a Police Academy film.

But... as an adult, it's not as funny as I thought it was as a kid.

So I am kind of torn, there are certainly FAR better Police Academy films (and I'm going to give them 10 of 10 because fun movies deserve it) but this one... this one a lot of the humor that still holds true in the others fell flat.

'Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach' is much like its predecessor - uninspiring. Again, like in 'Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol', it does conclude with a visual that's worthy of watching (even if it falls flat otherwise).

In fairness, this fifth entry does feel a bit different in terms of the plot; which I can respect, although it is still underwhelming stuff. Steve Guttenberg's absence doesn't help, I don't think he would've improved this one but his presence amongst his regular co-stars is missed.

The new cast members are not good, but at this point if you aren't a hallmark of this franchise then you probably aren't going to leave a lasting impression - unless the filmmakers improve upon their work, of course. I did, though, like the change of location on paper, but in reality it doesn't do much.

Just two more to go...