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Skiers and snowboarders clash on a ski resort with Rudy James (Jim Varney of Ernest fame) caught right in the middle. What results is the 1996 film Snowboard Academy. A half hearted (maybe even no hearted) attempt at comedy, and you’ll see why.

Jim Varney pretty much plays his Ernest character in this film under a different character name. And that name would be Rudy James, a man applying for safety inspector at a ski resort headed by Mr. Barry (no first name given and played by Joe Flaherty).  From introduction to all the way to the end, Varney plays Ernest with a slight bit of cursing and adult humor added. (He randomly tells jokes like “”my wife is so fat that when we finish making love, she rolls over and smokes a ham.”) Most jokes are dialogue about misunderstanding between Mr. Barry and Rudy.

Causing trouble at the resort is the feud between Mr. Barry’s adopted sons, the kiss up Paul (played by Paul Hopkins, with a character name that sounds like director [] said “might as well call you by your given  name”.) and the rebellious Chris(played by Corey Haim in a role he tries too hard to be “cool”). Chris and his snowboarding buddies are always causing trouble at the resort while security figure Red Eagle (played by Andreas Afergis in a role that becomes an excessively repeated bad joke.) After a lot of conflict, Chris manages to convince his father to hold snowboarding lessons. Which in turn quickly becomes a holding of skiers versus snowboarders competition. Trying to profit from sabotaging the ski resort is Mr. Barry’s Russian wife Mimi (played by Brigitte Nielson in a return to doing a Russian accent since Rocky 3.)

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