Film Review: The Naked Gun

Welcome back to the blog readers. As you may have been able to deduce from the well over two years I have been on this blog, comedies are not a genre I can fully get behind since they usually are never done right. One exception to this fact of life (shoutout my guy LA Knight) is the film Joy Ride (2023), the funniest film I have seen in many years. Hearing a new Naked Gun film was in the works intrigued me, but would the final product pay off? Stick around to find out.

The Naked Gun was directed by Akiva Schaffer from a screenplay by Schaffer, Dan Gregor, and Doug Mand, based on Police Squad! (1982) by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker. The film stars Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, and Danny Huston. In the film, the son of famed detective Frank Drebin must follow in his late father's footsteps to save not only Police Squad, but all of humanity.

Like I mentioned in the introductory paragraph, I am well aware of how celebrated the previous three Naked Gun films are (well, anything that has the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker stamp on it). So it was with great hesitation I went into this film because I did not know what to expect. But I came out of this film not thinking this was the funniest film of the decade like some people said, but thinking this was the funniest film of the year. Liam Neeson was the perfect choice to replace Leslie Nielsen and the comedy was mostly working for me.

I want to start by talking about Liam Neeson for a second. Once a bankable star back in the day, Neeson has petered out with some forgettable roles over the last 10 years or so. I have been waiting for a role he could really sinch his teeth into, and "Frank Drebin...Police Squad...the new version" is absolutely that role. He absolutely excels in the deadpan, slapstick humor that this film franchise is known for. And seeing his brief comedic role in Ted 2 (2015) is all the proof I needed to know this would work from the start. Now I know Neeson is not a fountain of youth, but I would not at all mind another film or two with him in this role.

Speaking of the comedy of this film, we have to talk about it. Like I previously mentioned, this Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker (ZAZ) style of humor is definitely not for everyone. However, I concede to the notion that these films (Airplane! (1980), The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991), and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994)) are wildly popular. And I have to say that this film does a fantastic job of emulating that style of film. Having the creator of Family Guy (1999-) producing and a third of the Lonely Island directing goes wonders in ensuring that style is honored. It feels authentic, and I found myself laughing throughout, especially with a lot of the gags that persist throughout the film.

One final point I want to make about this film is not one that is either positive or negative in a way, and the reason why I will explain in a minute. The point I want to talk about has to do with the story of this film. I don't know if anyone else felt the same way I did, but did anyone else feel as if the plot of this film borrowed a bit from Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)? Normally I would have a major issue with films ripping off other films in any regard, but for a film like The Naked Gun I literally do not see a problem with this. Kingsman is a film that takes itself more seriously than a Naked Gun film would, but I just wanted to point that out to see if anyone else felt the same.

In conclusion, The Naked Gun is a worthy successor to the legendary comedy franchise that sees Liam Neeson at the best he has been in years. Thank you all for reading, and I will see you for the next post.