The newest graduates from the world’s least professional police academy finally get their first real assignment and discover that actual police work might be slightly harder than screwing around in training. Sent to help a precinct being terrorized by a ridiculous street gang, they bring their usual combination of incompetence, chaos, and accidental success with them. It’s louder, dumber, and even more committed to turning law enforcement into a live action cartoon. Next week we’re reviewing the sequel that took the lunatics out of the academy and unleashed them on an actual city.

Commissioned by: John S. • 9/24/26

• Year: 1985
• Budget: About $7.5 million
• Box Office: About $115 million worldwide
• Awards: No major awards
• Fun Facts: Most of the original cast returned, including Steve Guttenberg, Bubba Smith, and Michael Winslow. The sequel introduced Bobcat Goldthwait as the completely unhinged gang leader Zed, one of the franchise’s most memorable characters. Despite poor reviews, the movie was another major commercial success and helped turn Police Academy into one of the most aggressively sequelized comedy franchises of the 1980s.