Review of Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987) by Molly D — 22 Sep 2010

"Citizens On Patrol. What a joke. You know what C.O.P. really stands for Proctor? Collection Of Pissants.".

This is the point at which the Police Academy series really started going downhill. I mean it's not utterly terrible, mainly thanks to G.W. Bailey, who returns as Harris and Lance Kinsey (the always amusing Proctor) but the gags and general Police Academy formula are really starting to feel tired and the attempts at freshening them up with outlandishness (the OTT biplane/hot air balloon finale) just feels like desperation. Characters are the usual mixture of old and new but rather than being at least tolerable like before, the newbies this time around are flat out annoying - Mrs. Feldman, House (he's fat - funny right?), the skateboarders... Sharon Stone also shows up but her character is so pointless it's not even funny. Oh, and while I'm on the subject of skateboarding (and pointlessness), keep an eye out for a young Tony Hawk who makes an appearance during a skateboarding montage. With staleness really starting to set in and many of the best characters destined not to return (Mahoney, Zed, Sweetchuck), this is the point at which the Police Academy series really should have called it quits. But it didn't...