Up the Academy (1980)

Review by All Movie Guide
Mad Magazine's attempt at a comedy film fails to capture the madcap spirit of the magazine and instead comes off like a third-rate knockoff of National Lampoon's Animal House. The script by t.v. comedy vets Tom Patchett and Jay Tarses lacks the specific details or inspired characterizations necessary to make the story take off, instead settling for a string of tired comedy cliches. One might have expected former underground-film darling Robert Downey to really stick it to institutions like private school and the military with a set-up like this but his handling of the material gives it the feel of a tired television sitcom livened up with a few choice bits of profanity. The only really solid aspects of Up The Academy are the soundtrack, which makes nice use of classics by the likes of the Kinks and the Stooges, and a few solid performances: an uncredited Ron Leibman gives the film's evil officer teacher character his manic all, Ralph Macchio wisely underplays his fairly amusing role as a Chachi-styled tough kid and Stacey Nelkin is quite fetching as a cadet's girlfriend who gets roped into the shenanigans. However, this handful of appealing elements isn't enough to offset the film's overall uninspired feel and Up The Academy is thus best left to collect dust with the rest of the Animal House imitators. ~ Donald Guarisco, All Movie Guide