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In the bank heist that opens Akiva Schafferβs reboot/sequel of βThe Naked Gun,β the villain blasts open a safety deposit box to retrieve his target, an item labeled βP.L.O.T. Device.β Itβs this simple: If you find that sight gag funny, βThe Naked Gunβ will probably work for you. If not, see something else this weekend.
The βSaturday Night Liveβ gang known as Lonely IslandβJorma Taccone, Andy Samberg, and Schafferβhave always had a sense of humor that felt inspired by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker, the geniuses behind comedy classics like βAirplane!β and the 1988 film that turned a little-seen canceled TV show called βPolice Squad!β into a theatrical franchise. If you canβt see the connection between a βLonely Islandβ creation like MacGruber and Leslie Nielsenβs Frank Drebin, youβre not paying attention. And that sense that this is more of a natural passing of the torch than a cash grab nostalgia reboot buoys everything about the 2025 βThe Naked Gun,β a movie that doesnβt get weighed down by references to the original. Perhaps the biggest compliment I can pay the film is that Iβm almost positive that everyone involved in the original, Nielsen included, would find enough to laugh at here. And, man, seeing a film with no intent other than to produce laughter in a crowded theater in 2025 feels like seeing a black swan in the current state of the genre, when almost all comedies, even big ones like βHappy Gilmore 2,β are designed to be watched at home. Remember when people paid to laugh in unison at a big screen? Yeah, I barely do too.
As with the original, casting goes a long way here, as Liam Neeson deftly segues from the action roles that redefined his screen persona since βTaken,β using that tough-guy character to poke fun at on-screen cops. Frank Drebin Jr. is even more of a cop on the edge than his dad, flouting the rules to catch the bad guys. As he wonders aloud, whoβs going to arrest him anyway? A cop?!?! Cops donβt arrest cops.
He fends off accusations of impropriety from Chief Davis (CCH Pounder) as he investigates two intertwined cases with his pal, Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser). Thereβs the aforementioned bank robbery led by the slimy Sig Gustafson (Kevin Durand) and an apparent suicide that leads the filmβs possible femme fatale into his office, the dead manβs sister, Beth Davenport (a well-cast Pamela Anderson). Sheβs convinced that a tech bro named Richard Cane (Danny Huston) is behind all of it, and we soon learn that heβs planning to unleash his variation on the βManchurian Candidateβ device that drove the action of the 1988 film, a signal that will make everyoneβs phones turn them into angry lunatics. This might be based on a true story.
Writers Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Schaffer smartly avoid the biggest trap of spoofs that tried and failed to be Z-A-Z by largely avoiding pop culture references that would instantly date the film, sticking with wordplay and sight gags that owe a debt to everything from Vaudeville to silent comedy. And the bits that do reference entertainment properties like The Black Eyed Peas and βBuffy the Vampire Slayerβ arenβt exactly trying to ride a wave of βcurrentβ viral humor. Overall, thereβs a timeless quality to the best jokes in βThe Naked Gunβ that makes them feel of a piece with the lines in the original without being direct copies. They donβt all work, but there are so many of them packed into this filmβs blissfully short runtime (under 85 minutes) that every one that lands with a thud is followed by one that connects.
The comedic batting average may not be as high as when Enrico Pallazzo saved the Queen (or even my favorite Lonely Island movie, the hysterical βPopstar: Never Stop Never Stoppingβ). Still, this movie has a secret weapon that makes it into a comedy killing machine: Liam Neeson. The main reason that βThe Naked Gunβ is consistently smile-inducing is because of how wonderfully Neesonβs deadpan gravitas works with the materialβa performer who can be so deadly serious doing things that are so deadly stupid. Anderson, Hauser, and Huston are all good enough, but this is the Liam Neeson Show, the Oscar nominee fearlessly throwing himself into Drebin with even more self-serious ridiculousness than his predecessor. Whether heβs shooting his way into a bathroom after too many chili dogs or beating a man with his own arms, Neeson takes whatβs happening as seriously as if heβs in a βTakenβ sequel, never winking at the camera like lesser actors would with the same material. As insane as this sounds, itβs legitimately one of his best performances because he never plays it like heβs above the ridiculousness of it all, threading that needle of self-parody and playing the moment as genuinely as he possibly can.
Thereβs a funny bit late where another famous actor takes his place, an actor I like, and I had a vision of what βThe Naked Gunβ could have been with that comedy-action star, or anyone else really, in Neesonβs part for the entire flick. It would have been a comedy crime.