Many moons ago I reviewed Bachelor Party and said I hated it, calling it a waste of Tom Hanks' talent. After their success with Police Academy, the Israel/Proft team decided to attempt another one-off comedy called Moving Violations. While it has become a forgotten film, it doesn't deserve that fate. It's an above-average film with a likable cast and a fun premise. Its biggest weakness is having its main characters rip off other actors extensively.John Murray (brother of Bill) plays Dana Cannon, a man who runs a nursery for plants. He and a number of other people have been ticketed for various driving violations from corrupt Birch County Deputy Hank Halik (James Keach) and forced to go to Traffic School. They later find out that Halik and equally corrupt Judge Nedra Henderson (Sally Kellerman) are running an illegal car selling scheme where they sell the cars of the people who have had their cars impounded for traffic violations. Of course, the headstrong Mr. Cannon isn't going to take this lying down.Moving Violations, like a lot of 1980's comedies, has an intriguing cast of actors. A mix of one-hit wonders, siblings of major movie actors, T.V. stars and the debut of Don Cheadle make up the cast. John Murray portrays a character similar to his brother mixed with Michael J. Fox and does an excellent job, though it probably hurt his career as an actor because he couldn't come up with an original personality. James Keach's performance reminded me of his brother Stacy's performance as Sgt. Stedenko in Up In Smoke...maybe a little too similar. Jennifer Tilly delivers that sultry voice of hers in one of her early appearances. However, the one who steals the movie from everyone else is Nedra Volz. She plays the blind-as-a-bat Mrs. Loretta Houk who confidently goes about in the world as if she's got 20/20 vision with hilarious results. Seeing her and Clara "Where's the beef?" Peller together in the movie made me mark out. Seeing these senior icons of the 1980's in the same scene? Awesome.It's an 80's film so get ready for all the trappings of the decade but it's not too bad here. Some good sight gags, funny situations, good writing and an inventive place for lovemaking add up to a pretty good film. Certainly worth a look.

The first time I saw this movie I was in 7th grade. I watched it at my cousins house back in 85 on cable. My cousin asked me who does the lead guy remind you of. I said I don't know should I? He looked at me with huge eyes "BILL MURRAY" DUH. It took me awhile, wow he does; John Murray has his moves down to a T. At the time I didn't know Bill Murray had brother's; my bad. This comedy is excellent, a group of repeat traffic offenders sentenced to traffic school, in order to get their license back. Dana Cannon(John Murray) leads this group, to the traffic school from hell. This movie is full of funny scenes, here are some. There is Wink( Ned Eisenberg) who is a horror fanatic/psycho. One of the scenes they have to watch When Blood Spills on The Highway. An older guy who is setting next to Dana is glued to this video. Dana checks his pulse and beats his chest to see if he is O.K.. The older man is fixated to the movie; and it does make you wonder if he's in a coma or worse. When they get out to drive in groups Dana is stuck with Mrs. Houlk, the older lady. When she blows the light and lands on the RR tracks the car stalls. A train is coming and the car won't start. Everybody gets out; and Dana realizes Houlk is still in the car. Dana comes to her aid and the rest follow except Deputy Halik. He is scared straight. The only thing that works is pushing the car off the tracks. Once off the tracks the car gets totaled by a semi. When they all come back they realize Deputy Halik was so scared he wet his pants. This last best laugh is when Judge Henderson(Sally Kellerman) and Deputy Halik are having fun at her place. Dana and Co. cook up a scheme to get the ledger back ;and fix Halik's car so it is so messed up he will not be able to catch them. They get the ledger take it to the chief where Halik and Henderson are arrested. They were going to milk the County and city of money, from the selling of the students vehicles. Dana and crew get their revenge, they all pass the class. No sooner did they get their license back they all get pulled over; and the chief is like OMG. In closing Dana Cannon is sentenced to traffic school 5 more times. The County eventually makes him the instructor out of desperation ; and nobody fails the class under him. This movie is full of laughs from beginning to end. The plot very simple, traffic school, instructors from hell, and a corrupt judge. I recommend it to anyone who loves classic comedies. They just don't make them like this anymore, usually if a Murray is involved you can't go wrong :).THX, Kris L. CocKayne

I typically reject pointless comedies as a waste of time, but this film falls into a handful of titles which, no matter how often one views them, are still funny each time. I'd say that it's most likely due to the genuine comedic abilities of the actors as their characters, as obviously a movie like this is not appreciated for its plot. The characters are unique, have a quirky chemistry that makes them inherently likable, and the dialogue is just fun. (Think "Tommy Boy" or "Cannonball Run" or "Johnny Dangerously.") The main character, Dana Cannon, is played by Bill Murray's brother, John, who is absolutely lovable in his cute sarcastic splendor. YOU WILL LAUGH. WATCH THIS FILM...(admittedly, it's funniest with a group of immature male friends or teenagers). (I mean that in a good way.)

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.