Review: The Naked Gun – Donut miss it
Directed by Akiva Schaffer
Starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston
7/10
Coming thirty-one years after the first movie and forty-three years after the TV show first debuted, this new Naked Gun reboot shows the series has thankfully not grown up. This has the DNA of the original series’ humour—not particularly deep or satirical, but a healthy and consistent array of gags, one-liners, slapstick, and all-around goofs and spoofs that make this a hot contender for funniest movie of the year.
Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) is investigating a lethal car crash, whose victim’s sister Beth (Pamela Anderson) claims is connected to the smart car’s tech mogul creator Richard Cane (Danny Huston), who has recently stolen the P.L.O.T. Device that he plans to use to take over the world.
Obviously not an original tale at all, but it works for providing the basis for the unending jokes, made even funnier by all the actors on board. Liam Neeson seemed like stunt casting as the Leslie Nielsen replacement, simply given the name similarity. But his career trajectory has been similar to Nielsen’s, with his appearances in non-comedy films like Taken still coming across as unintentionally funny. So it’s a joy to see that he fits like a glove (get the reference?) in this deadpan lead role, letting the jokes do the talking.
It’s great to see that this film can bring back some of the gags from the original films and series (e.g., the dirty silhouettes gag and the freeze-frame as the end credits roll), but still do them in a new and refreshing way, showing how much they can mine out of these jokes after all these decades.
This film has been in development hell for a couple of decades now, and it seemed nowadays a Naked Gun reboot wasn’t even being asked for, with wacky comedy movies not really being in style anymore. But in keeping true to the sense of humour of the original series, this film feels most welcome these days, especially as they got a director with a similar sense of humour as well. The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer was the right choice for helming this series reboot, having previously directed equally wacky comedy flicks like Hot Rod and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
The Naked Gun is relentless with its jokes, and even if one doesn’t work, there are another ten around the corner. It sure won’t be one of the better films of this year, but it’s certainly one of the funniest. If you don’t laugh even just once during this comedy movie, check your pulse, because you may be dead.
DAVID MORGAN-BROWN