Like the last few sequels in the POLICE ACADEMY series, Assignment: Miami Beach is a tedious instalment in the franchise that's happy to repeat all the best gags from previous movies and add little in the way of freshness or originality. The decision to move the action to a Floridian beach sounds good at the outset but instead the viewer is simply subjected to another barrage of lame beach-focused gags instead of anything approaching wit.Steve Guttenberg had left the series by this time and Matt McCoy is a wooden stand-in for him. Some of the regular cast members aren't bad but they're let down by the poor quality of the script, which really needed some polishing. The golf ball gag was one of the few I enjoyed. Later in the story, Rene Auberjonois has a fun role in an unusual kidnapping plot, which at least breathes a little life into the film, but sadly it's not enough to make this a success.

"Assignment: Miami Beach" is the first one in the franchise that doesn't have Steve Guttenberg, and I've got mixed feelings about that. In one way it's sort of a blessing, because we can finally spend some quality time with Lassard in this one. George Gaynes has always been the best actor of any installment's cast, so it's nice to see a sequel where everything revolves around him. Granted, all he really gets to do is have people fall over a bunch of times, but somehow he still makes it work. On the other hand, the movie clearly misses a decent "straight man" to counterbalance all the oddballs. I guess that was new guy Matt McCoy's task, but given that the guy has no screen presence whatsoever and barely made the final cut it doesn't quite work. Overall though, I didn't hate this. I mean, they do the same seven or eight bits they do in all the other ones, but here they do them on a different location! Michael Winslow does his Bruce Lee schtick for the fifth time in five movies, but now on a different location! I was sorta surprised Miami didn't have a Blue Oyster Bar, to be honest. "Police Academy 5" is not the greatest movie you'll ever see, but it'll give you about what you would expect.

Choosing plot over simply adding in numerous characters proves to be the downfall of the Police Academy series. Without Guttenberg there's no clear anchor for the film. We get the clichéd and simple (though still charming) side characters in abundance. Matt McCoy tries to fill Guttenberg's shoes, but we're not buying it. Callahan gets a bit more screen time which is always nice, and a Miami setting does her character justice. The final scenes of the series have included foot chases, airplanes, jet skis.etc. So now we have a hovercraft chase. Gaynes has more to do, but people such as Winslow are just on repeat. It's amazing that they will try the kung-fu voice over joke 5 films in a row and expect it to work. Not a difficult watch, and it does have an alligator fight, but this vehicle is low on fuel.

It's a tiresome continuation of the same depressingly futile, execrable material that plagued the series from #3. A hopeless pantomime consisting of extended camp chases, the Captain being coated in various effluvia, oafs falling over and so forth. The PG certificate squeezes out the raunchy spirit which enlivened the original.The Alzheimer-ish buffoon Commandant Lassard is propelled to the fore with no effect upon the quality, which would be laudable if there was any. Guttenberg's libidinous, puerile cretin character, Mahoney, is missing yet unmissed. The rest of the shamelessly worthless crew are back exhibiting timing which would embarrass a wristwatch from the Poundshop.