I first heard of a new ‘Naked Gun’ movie being in the works a few years ago when Seth McFarlane was announced as the writer for it…and then a few months later he had to step away. things went a bit dark on that front for a few months and then suddenly *Boom* its opening in theaters.

I’ve been trying to catch this for the last week or so, but today a couple of my friends who’d pre-booked tickets couldnt go, so me and the missus got them as freebies and an inpromptue date night! Huzzah!

The films a sort of soft reboot of the franchise in the sense that here, Liam Neeson is picking up the mantle as ‘Frank Drebin Jr.’ the new chief Lt. of ‘Police Squad’. and with a new cast predominantly Playing the sons of the original cast we drag the police parody out of the ‘dragnet’ and noir era and slap bang into modern police drama terratory, with a few affectionate nods to the past along the way.

This time, Franks got his work cut out for him, as a bank robbery botch job leaves Police squads funding on the line and Frank on thin ice to stay on the straight and narrow, or run the risk of not only being suspended, but forcing the closure of Police Squad in the process! Things turn around however when a mysterious author by the name of Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson) turns up at the HQ with news regarding her brothers death due to mysterious circumstances, that may land the pair at odds with a tech billionair with a border apocalyptic scheme on his hands!

Quick caption Summary:

Was this a good Naked Gun movie – Yes.
Was this one of the ‘great’ Naked Gun movies – No.

Comedy is always going to be subjective, and I really quite enjoyed this film honestly, I stifled a few laughs along the way. But something kind of felt off about this one to me up until the final act, and it was then when it clicked. The original Naked Gun movies were absolutely brimming with gags, obviously you have the overt foreground gags and wordplay, but then there’d be secondary physical gags happening in the foreground, and in almost every scene there’d be at least 1…usually 2 bizarre or grand visual gags happening in the background of almost every scene.

The latest entry is big on the foreground gags and wordplay, but background visual gags are surprisingly rare, they do happen from time to time, but they’re usually ‘transitionary gags’ that start as a foreground gag and then continue to unfold in the background while the rest of the scene is playing out, in a lot of the scenes people are just kind of standing around, maybe just…doing something relevent to the plot line, but we kind of lose a dimension of comedy here.

I equally was not a fan of the moments McFarlane clearly got bored working on this and tagged in half a dozen early 2000’s ‘Family Guy’ jokes…Which kind of bought the tone down for me.

Outside of those issues though, this is pretty much just a somewhat gentle screwball comedy, and its a rare site these days. Being a studio picture the technical abilities arnt really an issue, the direction mirrors modern cop dramas and action films, and I feel it does that well, the cine is nice, crisp and sharp, though maybe with just a tad too much overreliance on green screen and CG work. It looks nice…its not blowing me away…but it does what it needs to do.

The humour is for the most part solid, I was more of a fan of the surrealist humour and wordplay than the fart and poop jokes if im being honest…For me? the biggest crime was not getting Tim Robinson involved in this franchise, as I feel he really might have brought a good blend to the mix meshing McFarlane’s and the lonely islands comedic style…as it stands, it quickly becomes quite clear which bits were written by who and it makes the whole thing feel a bit less sturdy as a result.

Still! the pacings solid, the act structuring works, theres some really nice meta moments. they do nod back to old Naked Gun films, but not in a way that feels like it oversteps a mark or becomes nostalgia bait.

Liam Neeson is a damn PERFECT fit of Leslie Neilsens shoes. and EASILY is the best part of this whole feature, not to downplay Pamela Anderson, who also adds a great noir-esq contrast to Drebins character and both work to enhance the positives of each other.

While there were a few sad omissions (I dont feel like its spoilers to say that they do NOT recreate the iconic ‘police siren/car driving into weird places’ for the title sequence…nor do they use Frank Drebins hero theme at any point…which really felt like a miss on the bank raid sequence…I felt the score was pretty solid for the most part, if not a little TOO close to the cop dramas its trying to lampoon.

If I was going to rank this one? I’d probably put it on par with ’33 and a third’. Its a solid enough movie, im glad its been successful, and I really feel with this solid base, that they could probably do something really special in a sequel…or at the very least a paramount+ tv series. Worth checking out if you find it on streaming or are struggling for something to do on a rainy afternoon, great date night fodder, I dont think i’d go out of my way to see it.

source https://letterboxd.com/tytdreviews/film/the-naked-gun/