Movie Review- Up the Academy

MAD magazine has occasionally tried to make forays into other mediums besides magazines, and it never really works. Up the Academy was their half-baked and silly attempt to cash in on the popularity of National Lampoon's Animal House. But is it really all that bad? For the most part, yes, but it has its moments.
The film opens and closes with very a creepy shot of a guy in an Alfred E. Neuman (MAD's mascot) costume. It gets better, though. But not by much. The humor here relies heavily on stereotypes, toilet humor, and occasionally some slapstick gags. These only work about half of the time, and it's strangely nothing like the sense of humor in the magazine that produced it. The main characters are mostly thin stereotypes, and the jokes revolving around their stereotypical personalities get old fast. It's worth noting that Ralph Macchio starred in this, in one of his earlier roles, and he's one of the only entertaining people in the whole thing.

The plot is very nonsensical, and somewhat reminiscent of the Police Academy movies, although this was released well before them. Basically, a bunch of misfit troublemakers get shipped off to military school and wacky hijinks ensue. That's pretty much it. The movie isn't completely bland, though, the first 40 minutes or so were fairly entertaining. After that, however, the humor starts to go flat. There's one strange thing worth noting, and it really took me out of the movie-watching experience; the soundtrack plays incessantly through the movie. While I liked the style of music (late 70's rock and post-punk), it plays far too much. There were several scenes throughout the movie that would have played out a lot better if there wasn't a song playing in the background. The effects, while few, were pretty cheap, and consisted mostly of old stock footage. I get the feeling this was meant to be played for laughs in some scenes, but it still makes the movie look pretty shoddy.

Overall, this is a very hit-and-miss movie. When it's funny, it's very, very funny. When it's bad, it's really terrible. It certainly isn't horrible, but it's nothing special, and not really worth watching. I wouldn't recommend it. The first three Police Academy movies are a much better alternative if you're in the mood for a "bunch of wacky characters in a not wacky setting"-type movie.

Enjoyment: 3/5
Quality: 2/5

IMDB Page- http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081695/