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Date Posted: 15:57:23 06/20/01 Wed
Author: Griff
Subject: Hit the secret clicker for yet another review!
In reply to: Griff 's message, "I just saw the original Gaslight (**) - not sure if I was inspired enough to do a full review though. For now, here we go with a double bill! Watch out for spoilers." on 15:03:21 06/20/01 Wed


POLICE ACADEMY 4: CITIZENS ON PATROL


The fourth Police Academy movie in as many years isn’t exactly high art, but does at least offer a few genuine laughs in amongst the usual dross and even serves up a couple of reasonably impressive directorial touches, not something you’d usually associate with this series. The last one to star smarmy Steve Guttenberg, who sensibly chose to bow out of the next three, people like to use this one as an example of the kind of crap film that Sharon Stone used to make before she appeared in Basic Instinct, forgetting that not only was that movie shite but she’s barely made a decent one since.

But let’s not worry about quality control now, the makers of this movie didn’t bother. Producer Paul Maslansky unpacks the usual cast from the crates he stores them in between films, brushes the packing foam out of their hair and wheels them back in front of the cameras for the usual series of disconnected and largely unfunny sketches, leading to a completely irrelevant chase that forms some sort of a finale. In this case, a bunch of criminals breaks out of prison ten minutes before the end and treats us to an air show chase involving bi-planes and those well-known exciting high-speed pursuit vehicles, hot air balloons.

As for the plot, this is a movie that forgets the premise of its own series: the story revolves around the introduction of a new scheme that allows ordinary citizens to join the force and protect their own neighbourhoods. It wasn’t exactly a memorable movie, but wasn’t the idea of the first one, and so the whole franchise, that the police force was open to anyone? Clearly the opportunity to include gags about a gun-mad old lady was too good to pass up. The screenplay, as usual, doesn’t bother to develop jokes from either the characters or its setting, and so instead bolts itself together using various pant-wetting gags such as people falling into swimming pools, spraying mace under their arms or accidentally wandering into a gay bar. One scene is built entirely around a pigeon crapping on someone’s head. Not exactly Chaplin, is it?

There’s another scene where Captain Harris (G.W. Bailey) has a loudhailer glued to his mouth and has to go into hospital to have it removed. Tee hee, what a jolly prank! Actually it’s nasty and mean-spirited, cruel rather than funny. How about the bit where Procter (the amiable Lance Kinsey) is winched into the air in a portaloo and dumped in a football stadium, where he stands in front of a huge crowd with his pants round his ankles? What is the point of these scenes? Most of these movies are passable, I guess, but sometimes they’re so lame you’ve just got to sigh.

To the good points then: there’s a skateboarding sequence which is more interesting than anything else in the film, is decently directed by Jim Drake and has some pretty groovy skate stunts in it. G.W. Bailey is a funny actor who deserves better material than this. Leslie Easterbrook gets a trouser-tightening wet t-shirt scene. And making it all worthwhile in the middle of the clumsy jokes are Bobcat Goldthwait and Tim Kazurinksy, who are a pretty funny double act and manage to make something out of their routines. Comedy gold it ain’t, but maybe there should be a special Oscar for any actor who manages to get a laugh out of a Police Academy script.



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