Police Academy

A slacker (Steve Guttenberg) leads a group of misfit recruits against a tyrannical instructor (G.W. Bailey) at a metropolitan police academy.

Police Academy sure seemed a lot funnier 20 years ago. That’s not to say it’s bad per-se (it’s entertaining in a nostalgic sort of way), but it’s certainly not the riot I remember. Or maybe it is.

See, Police Academy is one of those movies you remember being a lot funnier than it actually is. Michael Winslow’s voice effects were novel at the time and so you remember them as being funny; but 20 years later they’re no longer novel and not all that funny. Such is the case with most of the movie.

Further, unlike Ghostbusters which also turns twenty this year, Police Academy dates itself at almost every turn. From the fashions to the haircuts, Police Academy is firmly rooted in 1984. Granted, this is not a bad thing per-se, but it doesn’t help.

Also slightly unnerving is the gratuitous amount of Guttenberg’s shirtless chest and arms we’re shown. I never picked up on this twenty years ago, but it’s clear the filmmakers were setting Guttenberg up as a sexy leading-man type; which obviously never panned out. This is a good thing.