Tim Kazurinsky makes flustered reactions worth watching, especially opposite Bobcat Goldthwait’s disorderly Zed. We like his unembarrassed silliness; the trouble is finding enough good jokes around it in the Police Academy sequels.
Fi1m perspective
Beside Bobcat Goldthwait’s anarchic Zed, Tim Kazurinsky’s timid Sweetchuck has plenty to react to. Kazurinsky makes the fluster part of the entertainment, rather than merely waiting for the louder actor to finish. We like him as a comic foil because he will look ridiculous without insisting that we find him lovable. In Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987), that willingness is one of the few reasons to keep watching.
Sweetchuck is only one version of his supporting comic work. On Saturday Night Live, where he wrote and performed from 1981 to 1984, his recurring parts included the pun-delivering Dr. Jack Badofsky and Mr. Landlord, opposite Eddie Murphy’s Mr. Robinson. After leaving the programme, he concentrated on screenwriting while continuing in supporting roles. He co-wrote About Last Night... (1986) with Denise DeClue and also played Colin. Those small screen parts should not be mistaken for the whole of his contribution to comedy.
The two academy sequels we have reviewed show the limits of a willing supporting cast. Jerry Paris’s Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) offers too many exhausted jokes to recommend, and Jim Drake’s fourth instalment is poorer still. We were grateful for Kazurinsky and Goldthwait’s silliness in the fourth film, because their readiness to look foolish offered some relief from Gene Quintano’s thin supply of jokes. Neither actor can do much about the shortage of worthwhile material for the civilian recruits. Their efforts make stretches of the film tolerable, but we would not pretend that they rescue it.
The risk with such a useful foil is that the casting becomes automatic: another small part, another man easily put upon. His more consistent return to acting in the 2000s and 2010s took in guest television, occasional films and stage work, including the Wizard in the 2014 national tour of Wicked. We would be wary of treating Sweetchuck as the measure of everything he can do. But we would be equally wary of recommending the sequels simply because he is in them. Give him better jokes before asking us to sit through another academy intake.
Biography
Tim Kazurinsky is an American actor, comedian and screenwriter. Born on 3 March 1950 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, he began his career in advertising before joining The Second City in Chicago in 1978.
He served as a cast member and writer on Saturday Night Live from 1981 to 1984, receiving a Primetime Emmy nomination for writing. Kazurinsky is known for playing Cadet Carl Sweetchuck in the Police Academy films, including Police Academy 2: Their First Assignment (1985), Police Academy 3: Back in Training (1986) and Police Academy 4: Citizens on Patrol (1987).
Other screen credits include appearances in Somewhere in Time (1980), Neighbors (1981) and About Last Night (1986). He has worked extensively in Chicago theatre and received Joseph Jefferson Award nominations for his stage performances.
