Police Academy 7 - Mission in Moskau

I now know how everyone felt about these films. The first six I got through ok, I have a pretty wide sense of humor. But this, oh is it awful. I mean come on, George Gaynes is now the lead actor in the credits?! Bubba's gone, Matt McCoy's gone, not even Lance Kinsey's Proctor came back. And poor Charlie Schlatter. Six years ago he was starring opposite the legendary George Burns in "18 Again," and now he's doing stuff like this. I feel for ya, bro. But as far as the film goes, here's what passed for a joke: Gaynes getting into the wrong car and riding with strangers...oh stop, your killin me! And way too painful sight gags like Bailey's inner ear being yanked with an earpiece through a wall. Mmm, that was just tough to watch, not funny. I have to come clean here, though. I did not see this entire movie. I gave it 45 minutes but just couldn't take it anymore, it was just too putrid. I didn't even get my customary smile at the opening credits when Robert Folk's familiar P.A. theme started up... they revamped the damn thing! Yuck, stay away from this dreck.

This is a very advanced film. Pay no attention to past detractors who spectacularly fail to *read* the ironic witticisms of this amazing film, for this carefully constructed little gem tips its hat at past masters of the genre such (particularly Fellini) then proceeds to walk its own path of joyous hilarity.

Several key scenes are particularly brilliant, particularly the tongue-in-cheek satire of Bertolucci (no less, in the bathroom!), and the film resolves to a stunning climax whereby morality and forthright honesty overcomes all potential obstacles.

I strongly urge you to watch this film; its significance and monumental importance will forever stand the test of time.

10 / 10

Imagine having your testicles ripped off by a Grizzly and you're half way to appreciating how painful an experience this movie is. Whatever you thought about the previous Police Academy movies (and I'm not particularly fond of any of them) they at least fitted in to the genre of comedy. This one creates it's own sub-genre: the anti-comedy. There's not a single joke in the entire film that makes any sense, and this is partly due to the fact that the script reads as though it was translated from English into Russian and then back again. And I'm not trying to insult the Russians. They get a hard enough time in the movie. If the makers of this film are to be believed, the Russian people are a humourless bunch, and so you imagine that the producers thought that a film with absolutely no humour in it would go down a storm with Moscow audiences. Now, I've never seen a Russian comedy, but I think it's safe to bet that they're better than this.

In one scene, a character batters a hole in a hotel room door using an ice bucket stuck to his head. I don't know why, and it's typical of this film that you're never quite sure what it is you're supposed to be laughing at. The jokes just rattle on and on like this making no sense whatsoever.

If you were to convince yourself that what you were actually watching was a serious drama about the mental illness of a high-ranking police officer lost in Moscow, you might get some perverse pleasure out of this. On the video packet, though, the distributors assure us that it's a comedy, so you can't even give the film the benefit of the doubt.

It's interesting to note that after the Police Academy team's adventure in Moscow, the authorities saw fit to let them back into their own country, where they went on to make Police Academy : The Series which is, believe it or not, even worse than this.

Best to watch this drunk. And with the television switched off.

I've just watched this film with my (russian) wife and her sister (who can't speak English) and the 3 of us laughed all the way through. I'm amazed at its "position" and totally agree with a previous reviewer: most people are missing the point. Yes, it's daft, stupid, childish & immature. It's SUPPOSED to be and, on that level, it works brilliantly. I loved it. The extended car chase near the end is hilarious & the running joke of Commandant Lazzard spending the whole film with a funeral party never gets boring. Apart from that, can anybody name me ONE other Hollywood movie shot so extensively in the middle of (beautiful) Moscow ??? Steve Guttenberg may have been the star of the Police Academy series but (in my opinion) he was far from being the best actor, or the funniest character. George Gaynes ( a wonderful classically-trained actor) David Graf (RIP) and G W Bailey were always better. In fact, I missed Eric Lazzard's goldfish more than Mahoney. Perhaps a russian version of The Blue Oyster Bar would have added to the fun but all-in-all I enjoyed this film throughout. Just watch and enjoy for what it is. 7 out of 10.

I can't say I laughed (but, well, I rarely laugh at movies) but I liked it. I liked the way Russians were portrayed in the movie (being a Russian :)) I have not seen other PA movies, so I can't compare, but this movie was interesting to me from the point "how do they portray us" :)