A group of careless and unlucky drivers are sentenced to attend traffic school to keep their records clean.
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Wonderful character development!
If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.
Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.
Not sure how, but this is easily one of the best movies all summer. Multiple levels of funny, never takes itself seriously, super colorful, and creative.
The most interesting part about this film for me was how similar John Murray behaves like his brother Bill, and that's a good thing. I still watch this film to this day and wonder.. Is he acting like Bill? Does John & Bill naturally act the same. Does John always act like him or just for this film? Are they copying each other? Was John told to act like Bill. Maybe both Bill & John adopted this style from an older brother, or even their father? It's the famous conundrum, which came first, the chicken or the egg?? We know Bill is hugely respected and well known, so what of his little bro who shows the same potential? Is Bill the lucky brother but they are all talented? So many questions from such an unassuming 80s film. Sadly there isn't much of a John Murray acting career to dissect. This film is pretty much his only major role, leaving us with very little else to analyse. All that aside, this film has some major laughs. Mix Police Academy with License To Drive. It's great relaxed fun.
At the time this film was made (the 1980s), it was sometimes the case that a person might enjoy watching horror films. This cultural moment is crystallized in artistic permanence here by the character of Wink Barnes, played by Ned Eisenberg. In his many scenes, Mr. Barnes brings up the topic of horror films despite their inapplicability to the diaphanous and delicate plot of Moving Violations. On meeting a woman, he asks her about her own tastes in horror cinema. Being told that a classmate is anxious about his father's reaction to a dismaying contretemps, Wink advises watching a horror film. When Dana Cannon tells a largely pointless anecdote about violence in the Arab world, Wink arrives and announces that he, given his tastes for violence, would like to see such a thing. Asked to meet his friends socially, he arrives dressed as Jason Voorhees. Some sophisticated viewers might feel that they had come to sufficiently understand Wink's character at this point and would not need to see his schtick reiterated without elaboration any more. Such viewers are in for a surprise as Barnes appears again and again, sounding his one note each time.Other fashions and political movements of the 1980s are similarly examined by the film (punk music, space exploration, perms), but none with the relentless jackhammer regularity of the mystifyingly dull jokes about Wink Barnes's taste in film.
Too much fun! Even though this film would seem way too cheesy and juvenile on the surface, there are just too many laughs for it not to be an entertaining experience. From the makers of Police Academy and Bachelor Party, Moving Violations has enough one-liners and sight gags to more than make up for its lack of plot. Though some of the gags make Dumb and Dumber seem like an episode of Frazier, I guarantee you'll be laughing at it in spite of yourself.The story concerns a group of perennial bad drivers who are sentenced to a strict traffic school in which they have to pass the course or forfeit their cars to the county. The class is run by two bad-ass motorcycle cops played by James Keach and Lisa Hart Carroll. They have their characters down so well, they'll even frighten you. Keach has a scheme going with the judge that sentenced the bad drivers to the course. Their plan is to make the class impossible and somehow split the profits from the impounded vehicles themselves. To detail this plot any further would be a dis-service to not only this review, but the film itself.John Murray plays the ringleader of the traffic school bunch. He is certainly no Bill Murray, but he's very charismatic and funny. Most of the other students are made up of typically wacky characters you might expect to find in a movie like this. Most of them are thankfully more funny than annoying. The cast is made up of many familiar faces; some of which went on to better things, and some of them just disappeared. Look closely and you'll spot Don Cheadle working at a fast food drive up window for about five seconds! Since there is so little plot, the film must count on sight gags involving cars being destroyed, old people with diminished facilities, bondage, puppet stages rolling down hills and into funeral homes, you name it. Toward the end, there is as one might expect, a climatic chase scene involving parade floats, a group of marathon runners, and about a thousand cops chasing after our heroes while they're on their way to police headquarters to expose the scheme to sell their cars. By this point, you'll be either rolling with laughter or you will have shut the movie off long before then.Maybe it's not quite a classic, but I'd say it's a cut above Police Academy and somewhere just below Airplane or Top Secret. The odds are you'll find more than a few things to laugh at.7 of 10 stars.The Hound.
I am not sure why this one gets rated so bad and it seems that it never got any publicity, but the movie was good for what it was made to be. It is too absurd to be realistic and that just helps it. I've laughed so many times during it that really, i would recommend it.Think of it as the naked gun series meets super troopers. It has certain priceless moments such as "the Doc" scenes which are guaranteed to make you fall on the floor.It is not a serious movie and if you are looking for some deep story line, you won't find it (i feel the need to highlight that). Simple down to earth fun like only the 80s can deliver. Don't bring popcorn, you might choke on it :)7/10