This was…barely a movie honestly; in fact, i’d go as far as to say that im pretty convinced the producers behind this entry somehow managed to convince the studio that they were VERY serious about making the ‘next exciting entry’ in the ‘Police Academy’ franchise…when in reality they just wanted money to take the cast and crew on a two weeks paid vacation to Miami. And then after filming the non stop party for 13 days, on day 14..while somewhat hungover, they shot 20 minutes of the LIGHTEST plotting they could, to slot inbetween the home movie footage.

The Plot? Harris finds out that Lassard is one year past his mandatory retirement, and sets in motion the process to retire him so that Harris can become the new chief. This involves some key (affordable) members of the previous ‘Police Academy) series alongside a couple of new faces flying down to Miami with Lassard and Harris to see the chiefs time out with a bang…

Oh! and theres a jostling A-plot involving a group of bumbling thieves who’ve stolen some very expensive jewels with the intent to sell them on for profit, who end up getting their luggage mixed up with Lassards, leading to several comedy hijyx where the bandits try to get their stolen goods back from the cops.

The rot appears to be setting in with this entry. The vast majority of it feels like bad improv mixed in with stale jokes that stopped landing about 3 movies ago. It all feels very gentle and inconsiquential. Why did I bother watching this movie? I have no idea. Its kind of nice to hang around with some of these characters again, but by this point the big hitters arnt even here, and the cast from the original films still with us barely get any screen time or anything really of substance to do.

Its a sloppy, unfunny and overly rushed script thats badly paced, isnt interested in trying to establish new growth for the new Characters who are introduced, and feels very much like a series running on fumes…The fact that there were 2 more written after this one GRAVELY concerns me.

Add to this that on a technical level, the films middling at best, shakey unfocussed camera work, lazy shot structures, mixed to poor editing. The grand finale feels positively underwhelming not just because its not as grand as previous entries, but because they film it in such a way that sucks the fun RIGHT out of it. Its very safe, and VERY beige as a viewing experience.

All I can say? is im glad the cast got a good holiday out of this. But I feel sorry for every Schmuck who paid full price to see this back in the day, and im only grateful that this film cost me (approx) 75p (roughly $1) to pick up in the boxset that I did. It’ll be a LONG time before I watch this 86 minute waste of time, thats for sure.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/police-academy-5-assignment-miami-beach/