The Naked Gun is back with a new hero, new heroine, and new jokes that are just as silly as the old ones.
It’s been a while since a big-budget spoof was released theatrically. The comedy sub-genre was a cinema staple for the best part of three decades, until it was just gone.
There’s a multitude of reasons for its absence, one of which is that comedies themselves have been largely banished from theaters. But the fact that the spoof became painfully unfunny didn’t help – we’re looking at you, Epic Movie and Disaster Movie.
So there’s pressure on the new Naked Gun, as with a big budget, big stars, and a big summer release, the film’s success could help bring this beloved sub-genre back from the dead.
A brief explanation of The Naked Gun
Before we talk about the new movie, however, let’s do a bit of Naked Gun background, to put the franchise in historical context. And it all starts with Airplane! in 1980.
The brainchild of comedy trio David Zucker, Jerry Zucker, and Jim Abrahams, Airplane! was a parody of disaster flicks – and a send-up of 1950s B-movie Zero Hour specifically – that prioritized jokes over character and plot, and remains one of the funniest films in history.
It also featured serious actor Leslie Nielsen in a very silly role, and such was his deadpan brilliance that a star was re-born. He soon got his own spoof cop show called Police Squad, in which Nielsen played dumb detective Frank Drebin, who successfully solved cases, in spite of his own stupidity.
The character inexplicably failed on television, resulting in early cancellation. But a few years later, Drebin was resurrected to take center stage in spoof movie The Naked Gun.
The film was a smash, and successful sequels followed, but then Nielsen passed away, the parodies disappeared, and the spoof was no more. Until now…
What is the new Naked Gun about?
Explaining the plot of a Naked Gun movie is like feeding a rock – difficult, pointless, and you look stupid doing it. Also part of the joy in watching one of these movies is experiencing the dumb twists and turns for yourself. So here’s a brief, spoiler-free overview.
Frank Drebin Jr. is the son of Frank Drebin, and a top cop who claims to have caught 1,000 bad guys. But when he’s summoned to the scene of a fatal car crash in Malibu – which has been classified as a suicide – Drebin suspects foul play, so he starts digging.
The investigation brings Frank into contact with Beth, author of ‘The Killer Wore Lipstick’ (a novel based on a true crime that she made up), and a beautiful femme fatale who could be permanently bad for Drebin’s health.
While it also puts Frank on a collision course with charming businessman Richard Cane, a tech billionaire whose electric cars are saving the world, but whose intentions might not be as altruistic as they seem.
The jokes come thick and fast
But let’s be honest, plot doesn’t really matter in a Naked Gun movie (can you remember story details from the original trilogy?) as these films are all about the jokes, and they definitely come thick and fast.
Again, it would be unfair to spoil them here, so we’ll just allude to some of the best, as well as a few of the worst. Running gags about coffee and farts fall into the latter category. Conversely, a sex scene involving confusion about a dog brings the house down.
There are callbacks (the stuffed beaver returns), multiple surprise cameos (our lips are staying sealed), lines that are out of date (we’re still doing Janet Jackson Super Bowl gags?), and some that are edgier than expected (most notably a Bill Cosby joke).
But there’s definitely more hits than misses, which is all you can ask of a movie where the joke rate is this high.
Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson deliver
Liam Neeson is also an inspired choice for Frank Drebin Jr., for a couple of key reasons. Like Nielsen before him, he’s an actor predominantly known for serious roles, and plays it straight here, which is exactly what these movies need.
But there’s added spice due to his action movie expertise, with Neeson and his stunt team able to lampoon Liam’s work in the Taken movies (and all the movies he made that weren’t called Taken but essentially were Taken).
Credit should also go to Pamela Anderson who takes over from Priscilla Presley as the Drebin love interest. Following her recent acclaimed dramatic turn in The Last Showgirl, she effortlessly sends herself up here, and proves to be the perfect foil for her leading man.
Is The Naked Gun good?
The aforementioned Epic and Disaster movies proved that parody isn’t as easy as it looks, but the talent is undeniable behind the scenes here, with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane producing, and Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer both co-writing and directing.
Their collective efforts – combined with Liam Neeson’s straight-faced lunacy – make this a successful Naked Gun that deserves to rejuvenate the franchise.
The Naked Gun score: 3/5
The new Naked Gun is a fun time at the movies that delivers solid action and some really big laughs.
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