The Naked Gun, 2025.
Directed by Akiva Schaffer.
Starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, Michael Beasley, Cody Rhodes, Busta Rhymes, Jason MacDonald, Moses Jones, ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic, Dave Bautista, Priscilla Presley, Wilbur Fitzgerald, David Lengel, Jon Anik, Michael Bisping, Bruce Buffer, Justin Gaethje, Kamaru Usman, Brandon Moreno, and Joseph Benavidez.
SYNOPSIS:
Only one man has the particular set of skills – to lead Police Squad and save the world.
Following in his father’s legacy, Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (perfect casting in Liam Neeson, weaponizing straight-faced self-seriousness for comedy through wordplay and slapstick humor) admires the man’s portrait on the wall (previously played by the now deceased legendary comedic actor Leslie Nielsen) with director Akiva Schaffer (a Lonely Island member and also responsible for arguably the funniest film of the last decade in Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and screenwriters Dan Gregor and Doug Mand using that as an opportunity for a self-aware speech to be like him, but also different. That’s the MO for this “new version” of The Naked Gun, technically the fourth film in the series (based on Police Squad, created by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker).
The result is an endlessly quotable entry overflowing with jokes that understands at the core of what is funny about Frank Drebin and these law-enforcement spoofs, following a template yet also forging its own path while leaning into a subversive parody of Liam Neeson’s past 20 years or so as an unexpected action star (made even funnier by a booming score from Lorne Balfe that sounds like it’s about to morph into the Terminator theme at any second during the live-action Saturday morning cartoon fight scenes). It’s also such perfect timing to send up that persona, as, let’s face it, that routine has become tired and exhausting. Perhaps the next chapter in the great actor’s career is comedy. Moviegoers should be here for that and crowd the multiplexes, potentially saving the comedy genre itself from its streaming service deathbed.
That’s also all one truly needs to know about The Naked Gun: there’s farcical, sometimes crass, humor stemming from literal minded interpretation and general dimwitted buffoonery as Frank Drebin Jr., reassigned to investigating car accidents following causing a cartoonishly violent scene while stopping a bank robbery that involved the thievery of a gadget called PLOT Device, finds himself entangled in a much larger web. This comes after jumping to conclusions when briefly looking around a particularly nasty vehicular accident and ruling the death a suicide. The only surviving relative happens to be a sister named Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson, in another inspired piece of casting, and having a blast), who urges Frank to look into it further.
Frank’s search leads him into the world of billionaire tech entrepreneur Richard Cane (Danny Huston, another actor having his typical persona leveraged into something hilarious), who develops a device called a “Calm Up” designed to reduce people’s brains to a primordial state. Together, Frank and Beth (who is given an absolutely absurd improvisational fake name by him to throw others off the trail) search for clues while awkwardly flirting with one another (complete with an equally ridiculous fantasy dream sequence). Meanwhile, Richard thinks gifting Frank an electric car might be enough to get him to drop his investigation, which sets off a series of amusing running jokes every time he uses it.
Beyond the dialogue-based humor and sidesplitting running jokes that cleverly come back when least expected (one involving coffee kept landing), the filmmakers also mine modern police technology, such as body cams, for laughs, with Frank’s superiors at one point going through embarrassing footage that probably could have been an outlandishly funny movie on its own. There also isn’t any fear in shying away from jokes about police brutality, particularly against unarmed Black citizens, making for one of the biggest punchlines. However, one wishes the filmmakers had pushed the envelope farther regarding topicality, as there is much to work with, given how justifiably critical society is now of law enforcement.
And while The Naked Gun wisely doesn’t fall into the usual nostalgia-pandering trappings (it’s more about honoring the structure of those original movies rather than copying them, such as in, say, a riotous finale ending at a sporting event), it is a frustrating choice to cast arguably the funniest workingman in Hollywood today, Paul Walter Hauser, in a legacy role as Ed Hocken Jr., without giving him too much to do. Rest assured, he does make his time count, whether it be through selling slapstick humor, aiding Frank in goofy disguises, or settling down the bad blood between Frank and Chief Davis (CCH Pounder), adamant that he stop working the case and connecting it back to the previously mentioned bank robbery.
Mild gripes aside, The Naked Gun is the silly, stupid fun it should be. Surely, it’s hard to imagine a better pairing for revitalizing this franchise and keeping it going other than Liam Neeson and Akiva Schaffer. At only 85 minutes (with gags throughout the credits, including a comedy song performed by Liam Neeson), it packs more winning jokes into its runtime than most filmmakers do with two or more hours.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★
Robert Kojder
