For the fifth year in a row, the Police Academy series graced theatres all over the world! Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach is one of the weaker entries in the series. I was actually pretty excited to watch this one as I felt that Police Academy 4 felt a bit flat and too much of the same thing.
How to Download Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach
Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach was released on March 18, 1988. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
With this fifth entry, I thought that as Steve Guttenberg was not able to be in it and it was now set in the sun kissed city of Miami, the series could get a shot in the arm and offer something new…. Boy was I wrong, so far in my rewatch of the Police Academy series, this is the worst one! It has nothing to do with Steven Guttenberg not being in it, the movie would not have changed at all if he was!
The Premise of Police Academy 5
To be fair, the idea of the gang getting to Miami is pretty solid. Commandant Lassard is due for mandatory retirement, but he has also been awarded the police officer of the decade award. The ceremony for the police officer of the decade is going to be in Miami and Lassard decides to take his favorite cops with him, who are the usual cast, except for Mahoney of course.
The Mahoney Replacement
While in Miami, we get to meet our Steve Guttenberg/Mahoney replacement and that is Nick Lassard, the nephew of the Commandant. Nick is played by Matt McCoy and to be fair, he does as good as he can with the material he has. To be honest, I did not notice that Mahoney was missing as much as I thought I would, but that could be because the whole thing was such a bland affair.
The Plot
Anyway, in Miami, Lassard picks up the wrong bag which contains some jewels from a heist and the criminals are willing to do anything to get them back. Cue the usual bunch of gags and slapstick humor. In my Police Academy 4 review, I talked about how the series was starting to get old and tired, well that goes doubly true for Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach.
I do not think anything in this movie actually made me laugh. Sure, there may have been a smile or the odd chuckle, but this legit felt like a big chore to sit through. The thing is, I cannot put my finger on what that is the case! The premise is kind of fun, but there is just something off about this whole movie. I was sick of the whole training new recruits thing that I felt like I had seen a million times, but this story here just kind of stinks.
Final Thoughts on Police Academy 5
While no one would call the Police Academy series cinematic masterpieces, many of the movies do have a charm to them. However, Police Academy 5: Assignment Miami Beach is a movie that lacks the charm this series is known for. I would wager that even more die hard Police Academy fans would have this fifth entry in the series pretty low down on their list. This is a movie that I am pretty sure I will go the rest of my life without seeing again and I am more than happy about that.
