Bare Minimum

I have lately been on a real 80's sex comedy kick lately, and there are many out there to indulge myself in. The other night I was sorting through ones I had watched and ones I hadn't, finally coming up with a fresh one: "Recruits". This film, it turns out, was by the same director who was responsible for the "Screwballs" films, so the initial uncertainty I had as a result of the film's inordinately aged look in the opening scenes was unfounded.

In the film, the political leadership of a coastal town called "Clams Cove" decides that the police force is overworked, and a new unit must be formed to handle traffic offenses so that the main unit is free to handle tougher crime. The opportunistic police chief sees this as his opportunity to grab power, and he proceeds to deliberately form a unit composed of very sub-par recruits which will be unable to detect and foil his phony assassination plot against the mayor.

The new unit, motley a crew though it is, remains resolved through a comically inept training period presided over by multiple very overbearing instructors (who include a beautiful but imperious German woman) and ultimately do uncover the police chief's plot to unseat the mayor and take his place. In reality, though, it's not a scheme that had any realistic chance of success. I confess I don't know how the charter of Clams Cove is written out, but I'm guessing no real town would provide for what the police chief seemed to expect would happen.

Beyond the dubious small town politics the film presents, there are some likewise unlikely instances of physics going on. The film depends on some rather incredible things happening in order to get women topless. It's not enough that they voluntarily shed their tops. It must happen as a result of some incredible accident, such as a police recruit tumbling past a woman, grabbing at her to come to a stop, and as a consequence ripping the entirety of her shirt (and presumably undergarments) off. It strains credulity, and maybe it's weird of me, but I have a problem with that.

Still, the film has some level of charm for a raunchier version of "Police Academy". Let it never be sad that the Canadians (who, I gather are to be credited with this film) never were impolite enough to make and release a reasonable sex comedy, even if we always assumed that it was solely the province of the United States to do so. I, for one, never went in for all that arbitrary Canada-bashing, and here's a fine reason. Who could be mad at the makers of "Recruits" except for woman who rightfully resent its deplorable sexual politics?