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

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.

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.

OK, Normally movies like this suck. Get a bunch of random k-list actors and put them in some crazy romp and suckiness ensues. In this case, they managed to hit comic gold. Murray is NOT his brother, but he can't help but share some of his DNA and so therefore is pretty passable. And Mark Ratner is also very good as a character who is pretty much Mark Ratner(or "Rat" as Mike Damone would say). James Keach is brilliant! This guy does not get enough props. The perfect stick up his arse cop. (You might also remember him as a cop in Vacation... "i'll go scrape the rest of the carcass off the road") This guy is underrated. Now someone may think I am being sarcastic! Nothing could be further from the truth! This movie has a great beginning, a superb middle and a decent ending. Not a bad payoff for watching! Fred Willard! Wendy JO! This movie has everything! Also Ned Eisenberg is an over-looked commodity in Hollywood as is well used here as the psycho of the bunch. He would have made a great Dave to Dean Cameron's Chainsaw (Summer School)Do yourself a favor and relive all the fun of this classic.