eginning with an elaborate sting operation at a train station – parodying “The Untouchables” – Lieutenant Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) is undercover, alongside his boss Captain Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) and their trusty colleague Nordberg (O.J. Simpson, in his final film appearance before his arrest on murder charges), forced to deal with a shootout all while babies in strollers tumble down a massive staircase. It’s surprisingly elaborate and exciting, despite the fact that it proceeds to feature some highly illogical additives – including another presidential impersonation. Then it segues to the recognizable theme music with a police siren tailing a series of unlikely figures, nicely announcing its fittingness with the previous two chapters.

“Show me one man who can stop me!” Shortly thereafter, at the Statesville Prison, bomb expert Rocco Dillon (Fred Ward) is about to be sprung so that he can engage in some exquisite malice for Arab terrorist Papshmir (Raye Birk). That’s bad news for the world but good news for retired, domesticated Frank, who has given up his dangerous career as a detective to marry workaholic divorce attorney Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley). Frank isn’t thrilled to be a house husband, nor is he keen on being pressured into a having a baby, both of which contribute to quite the dull existence for a man who regularly dealt with life-or-death situations; of course, this homey disquietude will make it just that much easier for the captain to bring him back into the fold at Police Squad. “Think of all the crime out there. Nobody is safe.”

To change things up, this third theatrical outing boasts a handful of flashbacks and a couple of disguises, along with Anna Nicole Smith as the suspiciously curvy, chesty nurse Tanya Peters. Though the previous two pictures had a number of sex jokes, this one goes fairly overboard with a masturbation gag, a prison rape stunt, a sexual assault bit, and a fertilizer and urine sequence that would be exaggerated to a much greater (and more memorable) degree in “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” It’s clearly an indication of a shift to edgier humor, thanks largely to easing societal censorship. “Like a blind man at an orgy, I was gonna have to feel things out.”

Despite the new case and the undercover work, the formula remains the same: Frank traipses and trips his way into the thick of a criminal scheme, sure to fortuitously catch the crooks and save the day. Curiously, it’s rather repetitious and drawn-out here, failing to invent fresh routines or expand upon the Police Squad universe – even though it has the shortest runtime of the trio. With a familiar voiceover narration, movie spoofs (including of “The Great Escape,” “Thelma & Louise,” and “Jurassic Park”), and all manner of slapstick, it opts to conclude with a considerably complicated satirization of the Oscars, which turns out to be an unfortunate arena for adventure. A celebrity cameo or two can’t save the utter absurdity of the climax, which embraces such silliness that it basically abandons any semblance of reality (or sticking to the concepts of Rocco’s mercenary schemes), hurting its chances for a satisfying ending. It’s the most cartoonish of the series (which is saying a lot), dispensing with moderately genuine romance and camaraderie and even villainy – and therefore the most frivolous and forgettable as well.

– Mike Massie