Porky Hospital

This movie will be dismissed for political reasons. There are a few laughs at the expense of characters that certain reviewers want to see only in an elevated light. But Intern Academy as a film improves as it goes along. The look is at first kind of washed out, but eventually there are some more pleasing sets. I had heard this was shot on video, but I could not tell as I watched it opening day. Purely, I supported it because Dave Thomas deserves a hit, and he has the same birthday as me. Also, I appreciate his critical views of the media in his interviews for this film. I do think that he miscast himself a little bit in this film. Although Danny is shown in his requisite sunglasses and banging a drum in one scene, he and Thomas should have switched characters. He might be more believable as a cold authority figure teaching students and rattling off lists of maladies, whereas Dave Thomas is best as kind of a weasel or prankster or buffoon - which is especially evident when he runs. Dave Foley is right on the money as a smug, egotistical heart specialist, though it is jarring to see him in gray hair - especially because it is believable.

The movie likes to wallow, and the organ storage fight is a bit unbelievable, as is the mouth examination scene which contains Maurey Chaykin's excellent cameo performance. That character could have been more central, accidentally embarrassing people. Even though the girl who is embarrassed would have known better. Good enough, and especially welcome as a Canadian film that is just funny and not pretentious.

Usually, what I expect from former Second City, SNL or any comedy stage performers like the Kids in the Hal is an array of offbeat characters. If you are like me and expected them in this movie, then you will be disappointed. The humor would have come out of how characters said and did things instead of what they said and did. Usually the comedy would be great when it had a healthy combination of both fueling the humor. This doesn't have fun characters and the humor is missing that extra bite.

First of all, let me say that I was one of the few people in the theater the weekend this came out and that surprised me because, although this is not the best movie ever made, it was far from the worst. Without a Paddle is a good example of what I'm talking about. Intern Academy was WAY funnier that that movie and WAY more people went to see that piece of crap. So how come so few people came out to see Intern Academy? I guess it's the usual Canadian thing where a Canadian Distributor thinks if they put fifty bucks into promoting something, they've given it their best shot. Well too bad for Intern Academy because it deserved better. Starting with the title which put it in a league with Police Academy which has now produced 6 or 7 movies and, as always is the case, the farther down the sequel line they go, the worse the movies become. So giving it that title was definitely a bad idea. I read an interview where Dave Thomas said he didn't like that title and it was forced on him by the distributor. Figures. Also where were the TV commercials? I didn't see a single one. And the ad in the paper was pathetic. I almost didn't go when I saw that tiny little ad because it made me think that they were ashamed of it. All in all, the cast was good and although there were some gratuitous sex jokes and gory parts, the movie had a nice likable tone to it. The girls were cute and the guys were okay (I'm not gay). And the older doctors played by Thomas, Dan Aykroyd, Dave Foley and Maury Chakin were pretty good. I had a lot of laughs which is more than I can say for a lot of American movies that I have seen in the past few years. I would say go check it out, but the movie is gone from the theaters already. Too bad. It deserved a better shot.

of all the movies i have ever seen this ranks in the top ten and no i'm not kidding. complete overlooked for some reason this movie by dave thomas of sctv and grace under fire fame .... not to mention the uber cult classic strange brew ... deserves a better shot. catch it on movie channels or rent or buy it on DVD and video because there is nos shortages of laughs in this movie. who says comedy in canada film comedy films is dead? i'm no expert but this I know what makes me laughs and this had me rolling on the floor for several minutes at a time and not just when i saw it but after wards just thinking about some of the hilarious situation and great dialog between characters. lots of recognizable Canadian talent and greatly written by the legendary dave thomas look out for this film.

The St. Albert's Teaching Hospital, considered the worst in the public health system and administrated by the corrupt Dr. Cyrill Kipp (Dan Aykroyd), receives a new group of interns: the clumsy Mike Bonnert (Peter Oldring), whose parents are prominent doctors and forced him to study in medical school; the wolf Dale Dodd (Pat Kelly), who has come to the hospital to meet women and falls in love for the nurse Cynthia Skyes (Lynda Boyd); Marlon Thomas (Viv Leacock), who like to play pranks with his mates; Mira Towers (Ingrid Kavelaars), who aims to be a great surgeon; Christine Lee (Jane McLean), a very efficient student and promising doctor; and Mitzi Cole (Christine Chatelain), who works as stripper to pay for her medical school and becomes Mike's girlfriend. Leaded by Sarah Calder (Carly Pope), the group spends the year learning how to become medical doctors in an environment of lots of confusion.

I loved the unknown and underrated "Intern Academy". The silly story s hilarious, with many politically incorrect gags and jokes about urban legends in a public hospitals, like for example, the corrupt administrator that sells the equipment to raise money; or the student with sperm in her mouth; or the colostomy bag exploding in the face of an intern; or the arrogant doctor; or the lack of respect with the corpse of a John Doe; or the man that arrives with a doll in his rectum; or the promiscuous woman with herpes and other sexual diseases kissing the guy she has just met in the waiting room. There are many other jokes, but one of my favorites is the stupid Ukrainian charwoman that unplugs the life support system of patients to plug the floor polisher. Another one that I laughed a lot is when the clumsy Mike Bonnert goes to the waiting room where three families are waiting news about their beloved relative and Mike commits a series of mistakes. The team of actresses is extremely beautiful and sexy and the actors are very funny. I did not feel the 98 minutes running time; actually I expected to have more. I really recommend this movie for days where the viewer is down or upset to relax. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "Os Estagiários" ("The Interns")