One of the most infamous comedy franchises has got to be the "Police Academy" films. The various films and shows were all over the place during the 80's and 90's and they received a reputation for being bad and lazy. Not only did the seventh and final film became so bad of a box office bomb that it's not even funny, but the studio wanted to tone down the mature content for the sequels to ensure more ticket sales. Because of this, the first film was rated R, the second PG-13, and the rest PG. With all that said, was the first film actually good to warrant a franchise that refused to die until a decade later? The story is practically non-existent. The mayor of an unknown city, even though it's filmed in Toronto, has decided to lower the restrictions of police training to ensure more recruits, no matter their size, gender, colour or personality. An ensemble cast of quirky characters enter the police academy, despite the lieutenant's objections and attempts to ensure the recruits, specifically the troublemaker known as Carey Mahoney, will quit on their own terms by harsh training and using two eager recruits as allies. That's all the plot is. It's mainly an excuse to incorporate gags and wacky situations. Even going by the loose story, the film shows that it doesn't take itself seriously by featuring a goofy tone you've come to expect from comedies from the era. Is it funny though? Surprisingly, yes. It's by no means the funniest film I've seen, as some gags fail to impress, but there were quite a few times where I laughed out loud, some of which are slapstick, wordplay or vulgar in nature. However, some jokes do take a few jabs at homosexuals and even though they are pretty funny in the context of the film, they might not age well with certain viewers.
The best thing about an ensemble cast is that there's always a character or two you can enjoy, and the film does offer a strong advantage in having some very likeable or entertaining characters. The protagonist is Steve Guttenberg's Mahoney, a reluctant recruit who tends to give his superiors a hard-time, despite later wanting to be a cop and falling in love with the female recruit, Karen. Mahoney is good as the lead and offers some good moments, but he does tend to be overshadowed by the larger side cast. Karen, played by Kim Cattrall, is probably the weakest character in the film as she lacks both an arc or a quirky personality that makes her memorable as she's just the love interest for Mahoney. G.W. Bailey as Lt. Harris is so great as the officer who is forced to train the recruits he wants out of the program and works as the foil for Mahoney's pranks. When it comes to the side characters, there are so many that grab your attention. From Hightower's intimidating height and heroic arc, Barbara's push-over attitude that he must overcome, Martin's womanizing nature and faux Spanish accent, Tackleberry's eagerness to shoot guns, Hook's arc of being so quiet that she gets mocked by Harris, Blankes and Copeland's role as the rotten accomplices of Harris, Sgt. Callahan's female authoritarian and sexual appeal, and Commandment Lassard's sense of judgement and eagerness for the new recruits. There's really only two side characters that I feel are kind of unnecessary, despite their performances. Fackler is rarely funny as the mild-mannered and oblivious cadet with a nagging wife due to wasted potential. And then there's Micheal Winslow as Larvell Jones, or also known as the guy who does funny noises all the time. Winslow has fantastic vocal talent to say the least, but the character of Jones is just a bit too over-the-top as he just makes random noises like a child for the sake of making noise. Impressive, but not really funny compared to the others. Overall, I do think the cast in general is really solid thanks to the various arcs and quirks of the characters as well as the actors and actresses they got. Even though three side characters tend to be wasted or unfunny, the rest of the cast carries the humour and joy of the film quite well.
The late Hugh Wilson is only known for directing the first film. There's honestly not much to say about Wilson as a director as it does feel paint-by-the-numbers for the most part, though he does do two notable things for the installment. He was the one who made the more explicit or vulgar scenes tamer than intended and actually made them funnier due to it being not super gratuitous. His choice to film in Toronto offers a memorable sequence in the climax that's shot in Kensington Market, which does work in being the ghetto area of the unnamed city. The cinematography by Michael D. Margulies is really good in having multiple one-shot, tracking shots to showcase the large ensemble cast for the various gags. The score by Robert Folk is for the most part standard for the comedy genre with a strange inclusion to add Christmas music in one scene, despite the film not even being set near the holiday. However, the main theme used throughout the franchise is actually really memorable and fits the nature and premise of the film so much that some police graduations use this piece at times. If there's one thing holding the film back on a technical level, it would be the editing by Robert Brown and Zach Staenberg. Not only are there some awkward transitions and a poor moment of ADR, but some gags are cut early despite their comedic potential. The film was apparently over two and a half hours in the editing floor, but was trimmed to be around the usual 90 minute runtime comedies are known for. I kind of wish that the film was longer in an extent so we could have had more scenes with the characters.
"Police Academy" is not only the best of the titular franchise by a long shot, but it's actually one of the funniest films from the era. It does have its issues from a few unfunny or poorly-aged jokes, the characters of Karen, Fackler, and Jones being both unfunny and unnecessary, and the editing by Brown and Staenberg can hurt the film at times due to some rough cuts and a few unfunny moments going on for too long. Despite this problems, I was really surprised by how fun it was. From the basic premise that focuses on comedy rather than narrative, the tone and humour that complement each other to be both zany and vulgar, the sheer volume of the ensemble cast and how enjoyable they can be for their quirks and performances, Margulies's camerawork offering some nice tracking shots that make for effective visual gags, Folk's composing of the main theme being really poppy and energetic, and Wilson's choices to film in Toronto and hide the explicit content of the vulgar jokes manage to be used to such great effect that the next few sequels were influenced by his otherwise standard directing. What should have been an average low-brow comedy turned out to be a really decent romp. It never needed to spawn a franchise, but as it is, it's really good.
Verdict: 7.5/10. Just a really fun comedy that doesn't take itself serious and offers a great cast of characters. Give it a watch if you can tolerate a few bad jokes and amateur filmmaking from time to time.
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