Directed By Akiva Schaffer

Starring – Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser

The Plot – Following in the footsteps of his bumbling father, Detective Frank Drebin Jr (Neeson). must solve a murder case to prevent the police department from shutting down.

Rated PG-13 for crude/sexual material, violence/bloody images and brief partial nudity.

The Naked Gun: Official Trailer (2025)

POSITIVES

It took some persuading to be receptive to the idea of a Naked Gun requel (Part re-imagining, part sequel), especially with the original’s leading detective, Leslie Nielsen, being gone for fifteen years, but Akiva Schaffer’s absorbing direction provides a lot of love and admiration for the original trilogy of films that manifests a legacy installment 36 years after its original effort, with a lot of thorough detail in the air of his spoofing exploits that makes this a delight to see alongside the biggest audience imaginable. Not only does Akiva embody the very essence of the Naked Gun movies, with imaginative silly that ever refuses to take itself too seriously, but also tremendous adoration for the memorable moments and character’s from those original efforts, which sporadically pop up here in the most random of instances without the movie drawing too much attention away from the primary arcs within this storytelling. For that, Schaffer and fellow co-writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand do ride the waves of familiarity within the structure of that 89 original, which becomes clearly evident the longer the movie transpires, but their script does so without feeling like its material borrows endlessly in an abundance of heavy-handed call-backs and nostalgia that condemned “Happy Gilmore 2” just last weekend, and instead chooses responsibly to blaze a trail of its own that allows us to appreciate it singularly for the honor and prestige that it maintains alongside some gut-busting installments to this franchise. This is especially the case for the movie’s gags pertaining to observational, word play, sarcasm, and shock that elicits a healthily effective consistency of laughter throughout the engagement that proves the bold power of comedy when it’s manifested at its most creative. It would require me to go back years to even think of a comedy on par or superior to what this trio of writers unload at the delight of tummy-tickled audiences everywhere, and while comedy is ultimately an art form that is quite subjective between people, with results typically varying among them, “The Naked Gun” feels like one of those rare movies that speaks a universal language in cleverly and unsubtly spoofing action and crime noir familiarity of the previous century, with even one of its own in Neeson serving as the usher who continuously unloads such randomized silliness throughout the engagement, which paints a unique irony to the interpretation that transcends anything that any writer could possibly craft with a pen. Neeson himself has quite a daunting task of filling Nielsen’s immense shoes, but this secondary onslaught of L.N initials does thrive on the same deadpan deliveries of his predecessor, which helps to channel a distinct atmosphere in the off-beat gags that halts focus in the narrative directly in its tracks, all the while appraising an equally vital resiliency as an action hero that makes this Frank Drebin a bona fide badass throughout the frequent bouts of physicality that even makes this a solid action film on its own merits. Neeson is joined and enhanced by Pamela Anderson, with a surprising element of dynamic chemistry effortlessly elicited between the two, which sees Anderson committing herself endlessly to self-deprecating humor of the most vulnerable variety that quite remarkably showcases a range of comedic firepower unforeseen to this point in the actresses capabilities. While Neeson is obviously the movie’s central protagonist, Anderson receives more than enough scene-stealing instances within the movie’s focus to appraise her own brand of zany repertoire that compliments Neeson’s stern sensibilities endlessly, and with them casually frolicking in everything from a wintery wonderland alongside Jack Frost, to dinner preparations within an outsider intruder’s nightvision, to even a dual plan to gain information inside of a nightclub, the film garners its best moments when the two of them share the screen simultaneously, enriching the material with charming cadence that naturally brings these characters to life as two entertaining powerhouses. Even more surprising than Neeson and Anderson’s impeccable comedic timing, however, is the transparency to budget that manifests itself on-screen throughout some stylishly sleek production designs that easily makes this visually entrancing of installments, even with the occasional green-screen backdrop that pops into frame. While nobody watches a Naked Gun or a spoof movie for cinematic technique, it certainly doesn’t hurt that a plot conflict pertaining to technological takeovers exudes itself with various gadgets and neon set decoration under the Los Angeles skyline, crafting a sophisticatingly evolved installment to the legacy of this franchise that plays beautifully and justifies its existence on the big screen. Lastly, while the movie clocks in at a meager 80 minutes (The very same runtime as the 89′ original), the storytelling doesn’t feel abridged in the evolution of the mystery, nor shortchanged on the entertainment value of the material, instead helping it to maintain an indulging consistency in momentum that never comes close to overstaying its welcome. For my money, the most prominently memorable moments of the script happen during the second act, where more of the wandering mentality of the Drebin character takes shape, but even throughout the other two acts, I never found my engagement threatened by the tedium typically associated with repetition, as the aforementioned comedic material finds even more elaborate methods to articulate their cause, and it leads to one of the easiest invested engagements that I’ve had this year, where time feels like an unimportant construct to a movie that makes you forget about the perils of the real world with its abundance of unmitigated laughter.

NEGATIVES

While easily the frontrunner for the best comedy of the year, “The Naked Gun” isn’t without flaws in its armor, particularly within the diminishing returns of the other fifteen percent of the movie’s comedic material that bombs noticeably to certain scene’s integrity. This is somewhat forgivable, as the movie’s pacing for gags enacts a breakneck pacing that no comic writer could possibly keep up with, but even in approaching the material at face value, there are simply some outdated and obscured cultural references that won’t beat as effectively with modern audiences, with quite a few of them persisting long after their intended deliveries in ways that drown on like the most unknowing of dad jokes. In addition to this, my only other issue with the film pertained to the resolution of the third act, which didn’t satisfy as consistently or effectively as the movie’s first two acts. Part of the problem certainly stems with a majority of the aforementioned inconsistencies of the material permeating during this part of the engagement, clashing tonally with the atmosphere of a movie that quite dominatingly becomes an action movie by this point, but the bigger problem feels like the flatlining and abrupt materializing of the physical resolution, undercutting the stakes of the circumstances quite noticeably, even in a movie that so obviously doesn’t value them in the way other genres would. I can understand that the intention is to show how surprisingly soft our antagonist truly is under his endless environmental threats, but it makes the movie feel like it ran out of time, instead of resolved matters accordingly without a shred of convenience at its disposal, and it pales quite remarkably in contrast to the ending actions of the original film, which one could argue was among the very best gags of that entire movie.

OVERALL
“The Naked Gun” takes aim at a beloved comedy franchise by enacting its own dose of off-beat extremely silly spoof humor that it uses to articulate the ridiculousness within the crime noir and action movie genres, respectively. Aided tremendously by committed deadpan deliveries and sensational chemistry from Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, as well as a restlessly persistent script that manically moves between gags without any hesitation, Akiva Schaffer’s accuracy and adoration for the charms of these movies comes across earnestly in the air of his absorbing direction, articulating a legacy re-imagining and sequel that was crafted with care to uphold the integrity of its legacy, against such overwhelming odds and expectations.

My Grade: 8.3 or B+