Upon the success of 1984's Police Academy and it's brand of "misfits cause havoc in a." fill-in-the-blank plotting, movie producers decided to cash-in on the trend and the results were such titles as Stewardess School, Recruits, and (in this case) Moving Violations.

Having the advantage of being created by two of the scriptwriters of the first, and certainly the best, Police Academy movie, Moving Violations doesn't stray too far from the template co-writers Pat Proft and Neal Israel established on that film with the only real difference being that this time it's set at a traffic school as a group of wacky characters (led by Bill Murray's much less successful younger brother, John) have to try and pass classes in order to get their drivers licenses back and stop their cars from being sold from the impound lot after thirty days.

But, as expected, things aren't going to be that easy as the group (which includes such familiar faces as Jennifer Tilly as Murray's love interest, Fred Willard as a "doctor"-like mechanic, and Wendi Jo Sperber as a hypochondriac lady who takes his advice too literally for one of the movie's funniest moments), as by-the-book hard ass Deputy Halick (James Keach, brother of Stacy) tries his best to get them to fail so he can share the profits from selling their vehicles with scheming judge Henderson (Sally Kellerman).

Goofy enough to be enjoyable, Moving Violations is the kind of comedy that's just brainless enough to entertain. The jokes mostly consist of slapstick humour and one-liners, but in the hands of the cast it actually turns out much better than expected. Murray (in his only starring role) delivers his sarcastic lines quite well and has good interplay with Keach, Sperber shows the comedic talent she did in TV's Bosom Buddies and Stewardess School, and (if you don't blink) you might even see acclaimed actor Don Cheadle in a bit role as the cashier at a drive-thru window.

While it ends with the typical "get revenge/expose the baddie" riff (which consists of rigging Halick's squad car, stealing a ledger that exposes the car selling, and an extended car/foot chase with cars driving backwards and stolen parade floats), there's enough laughs in the rest of Moving Violations to satisfy. The best moments here are Sperber's "morning routine" scene and the ridiculously silly introductions to our various characters in the first fifteen minutes.

Director/co-writer Israel did the Tom Hanks starring Bachelor Party previous to this and has since gone on to directing television, while co-writer Proft continued beating the sub-genre to death having a hand in the Naked Gun, Hot Shots!, and Scary Movie franchises. (Chris Hartley, 6/11/06)

Directed By: Neal Israel.
Written By: Neal Israel, Pat Proft.

Starring: John Murray, Jennifer Tilly, James Keach, Brian Backer.