Summary
The Naked Gunmay just be one of the most celebrated and beloved comedy franchises of all time. From its humble beginnings as the short-lived TV seriesPolice Squad!, the zany, Leslie Nielsen-led cop parody has always held a spot in the hearts of comedy fans. So when the new movie was finally greenlit three years ago, there was a palpable sense that everything could go wrong.
Rebooting a comedy franchise years later carries plenty of risk. The most important questions about a project likeThe Naked Gunare, how does the sensibility of the original hold up in the modern era? Can a new actor carry the franchise while living up to the excellent deadpan comedic work of Leslie Nielsen? Can something like this work at all? Luckily, the answers to those questions, based on this franchise requel, are: very well, yes, and another resounding yes.
This newNaked Gunis absolutely worthy of the title, and unlike many other movies trying way too hard to fit into the current zeitgeist of what is considered funny, Director and writer Akiva Schaffer (who directed thesurprisingly goodChip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers), along with his co-writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, understand what has always made this particular series so funny, and they hold true to those principles: slapstick physicality, running gags, jokes delivered with the straightest of faces, and goofy visuals that perfectly upend expectations.
In a movie like this,the plot is secondary to the jokes, but it at least deserves some form of summary. Detective Frank Drebin, Jr. (Neeson, playing the son of Nielsen’s character) is a loose cannon who is kicked off a bank heist case by his superior (CCH Pounder). However, the traffic case he is reassigned to has more going on beneath the surface, and it leads right to the sister of the deceased, Beth (Pamela Anderson), as well as enigmatic tech mogul Richard Cane (Danny Huston). Right from the jump,The Naked Gunlets the audience in on the joke. The real target of the bank heist is not money, but rather a technological MacGuffin labeled ‘P.L.O.T. Device,’ whose acronym is explained later.
That will be the only joke revealed in detail here, as giving away any of the fun stuff would be doing a disservice to the movie. It might be cliché to say at this point,but it’s best to go in as blind as possibleforThe Naked Gun. Although even if you’ve seen one or more trailers, there’s a lot packed in here that is still going to surprise you. As it was with the original three movies, what really makes everything work is the writing. The bits, jokes, and gags come lightning fast, with the writers clearly adhering to the ‘how many laughs per minute’ rule of comedy. There’s never too much empty space between jokes, and you’re never left wanting more out of any scene. Schaffer, Mand, and Gregor wring every possible angle out of each moment, and with the movie clocking in at a lean 85 minutes, there is no time to waste.
Of course, a script can only ever be as good as who is delivering it, and Liam Neeson proves a worthy successor to the name Frank Drebin. Neeson has, of course, delivered plenty of non-comedic roles throughout his career, with some of his most famous being Oskar Schindler, Qui-Gon Jinn, andBrian Mills of theTakenfranchise. However, Neeson has great comedic sensibilities, and like Nielsen before him, he understands that playing things straight is usually the best way to sell a joke. In some moments, he’s over-the-top, but only when the scene demands it. He leans into most gags with a deadly seriousness, selling many of the comedic action scenes where he’s fighting multiple bad guys in ways that Brian Mills only wishes he could. The rest of the cast are all up to the job as well, with great turns from Paul Walter Hauser (who is doing double box office duty here and inThe Fantastic Four: First Steps) and CCH Pounder, who does the angry chief schtick, but makes it work perfectly with the material.
As great as Neeson is, though, the movie’sreal secret weapon is Pamela Anderson. Anderson has had something of a renaissance lately with her acclaimed performance inThe Last Showgirl, and here she absolutely matches Neeson’s energy, and sometimes even exceeds it. Their scenes together have a palpable sense of chemistry, both comedic and romantic, that play perfectly against some of the movie’s more wild visual gags. There’s a mid-movie montage involving a wintery getaway that goes absolutely off the rails in the best way possible, and Neeson and Anderson both kill it without even having any dialogue.
I’ve emphasized how funny this movie is, but as with any comedy, your mileage may vary depending on your sense of humor. Sure, the movie goes broad with its humor, but it does so in a way that is so genuinely well-crafted that it’s hard to hold back even the smallest chuckle. I sawThe Naked Gunin a packed publicity screening, and it was genuinely so refreshing to see a comedy with that many people and have the shared experience of all laughing together. That shouldn’t necessarily count toward assessing the movie on its own merits, but take it as me saying that the best viewing experience forThe Naked Gunis with a large group.
The theatrical comedy is, almost entirely, a thing of the past at this point, with even long-awaited sequels likeHappy Gilmore 2being unceremoniously dumped on Netflix(even if it is the streamer’s biggest premiere ever). Instead, we’re mostly stuck with the ‘humor’ of big blockbusters that are trying to have one foot in the comedy world while doing everything else.The Naked Guncan hopefully remedy this situation, and remind people why it’s so fun to go see a comedy in theaters. This is a worthy entry in the franchise, and is absolutely worth your time.
