Absolutely Fantastic

A lot more amusing than I thought it would be.

Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

The goofy students of a remedial drivers education class find themselves butting heads with their abusive police instructors.I had never heard of this film until 2017 when it was brought to my attention by Rue Morgue magazine. This is rather odd, because Rue Morgue is completely horror-themed, and "Moving Violations" is not, but they wanted to call attention to the horror fan who was in the traffic school.Overall, this is a comedy much funnier than others that are better known. John Murray is as good as his older brother, for example. And Jennifer Tilly is great, despite my not really knowing who she was until long after this film came out. How was I not aware of her so much sooner?

Another Police Academy clone type film, again this one a bag of laughs. A group of different aged dudes, misfits, who've created traffic chaos on our roads, are subjected to traffic school, led by troublemaker Murray, priceless. Some of these dudes, in real life, if creating these offenses, wouldn't end up doing this refresher course, much to the dislike of their hard ass mentor, a great James Keach, Stacey's brother, where him and Murray, go head to head, or one would say in one circumstance, cheek to cheek. Most of the cheek to this one, comes from Murray, a comedy revelation here. All of the actors, bring quite good performances to comedy of this calibre. Murray's minor crime, was while driving his ute, carrying fertilizer, an apple he was chewing on, fell out of his hand, while going over a bump. The cycle cop who pulls him over, suspects the fertilizer of being a white drug substance. When he tastes a dab of it, he wish to hell he didn't, where this circumstance earns Keach a one liner of the word S..t. MV is another film of laughs where Murray and his peers go all out to expose Keach, the worst of enemies and his girl cop, plus a female judge, Kellerman, he's also doing. The kissing scene in the gravity chamber with Murray and Tilly, (who disappeared off our screens after this flick, then came back in the late nineties, in a major f...in' way) is so cool, even their removed clothes get in on the act. The last scene of the film is a rib tickler, if ever I saw one, proving that some people don't belong on the road, but this movie deserves it's time of viewing.

After directing Tom Hanks in the comedy smash "Bachelor Party" the year before, Neal Israel would go to take on the traffic school comedy "Moving Violations" with the same fruity results. While I like "Bachelor Party" better, still it's not taking anything away from it, as it had loads of humorous instances consisting of visual gags and gaudy one-liners from a light-headed script. There are some misfires evident, but it's just too pleasant and how can you pass its catchy soundtrack.After losing their licenses for repeated offences a group of drivers are sentenced to traffic school and their cars impounded, but their bitter driving instructors (once highly regarded officers) are making sure they won't easily pass.It's the usual formula, as it has that chaotically nutty vein that flowed through "Police Academy (1984)". Sure it can be dumb and low-brow, but its mishap humour is enjoyably staged. Namely James Keach's uptight shtick as Deputy Halik was a complete hoot and an amusing Nedra Volz's blind as a bat turn as Mrs. Loretta Houk. The cast are committed to their misfit characters and made it more the merrier. A likable John Murray (brother of Bill) chips in with his self-knowing presence, throwing around snappy quips. When Keach and Murray came together is when it livened up. Jennifer Tilly keeps it perky and sincere in a role doesn't really ask a real lot from her. Brian Backer is in a usual dweeb role and a diverting Ned Eisenberg bloodshed happy turn is great (the sequence involving the class watching the tape; Blood flows red on the highway!" shows the slightly disturbing obsession). Which he's tagged obviously as a horror fan (referencing films like "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" and "Friday the 13th" films). Lisa Hart Carroll is marvellous as the cold-hearted deputy Virginia Morris and her cat-fight with Sally Kellerman's shrewish character is unforgettable. Also there's pleasurable support by Fred Willard, Wendie Jo Sperber, Willard E. Pugh and Nadine Van der Velde. Other familiar stars in nothing more than minor cameos are Don Cheadle and Dedee Pfeiffer.

Not sure why John Murray didn't do more films - he definitely should have, and hopefully he will do some in the future. True, his acting style is similar to his older brother Bill's, but he's individual enough that he coulda made it big. "Moving Violations" is good. Not great, but it was pretty well directed and it's got its strengths. Actually, it made it into theaters only six months after it was written and filmed - if anything, I'd say that they should have gone back and rewritten and polished up a few things. The plot does get stretched a bit thin over the course of the movie...the best parts come in the beginning and middle. The ending is pretty limp and the whole Judge Henderson/Deputy Halik sexcapade and ensuing car chase sequence just gets boring with all the boffo antics. The character of Scott the Puppeteer, played by Brian Backer (Rat of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High") doesn't develop as well as it should have, and the chick who plays his love interest wasn't written well at all - BUT, Backer's star scene near the beginning with the puppet stage rolling down the hill is a total gut-buster. Despite these few problems, there are enough good gags and Murray definitely keeps the movie afloat. Jennifer Tilly is superb as Amy Hopkins the nimrod rocket scientist. James Keach, Wendie Jo Sperber (who had just done "Back to the Future"), Ned Eisenberg, and Nedra Volz all contribute a lot of positive energy, making "Moving Violations" one of those 'so bad, it's good' movies.