‘The Naked Gun’ Review: Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson are Comedy Gold in Refreshing Entry to the Classic Spoof Franchise [B+]
The spoof comedy is a dying breed. Once a staple of the genre, humorously poking fun at films that the filmmakers loved growing up or were being made in the present, was turned into a cheap, mean spirited, unfunny versions of films that lost the core of what made the classic spoof films so good in the first place; they weren’t fun anymore (thinking of films like Epic Movie, Disaster Movie, Meet the Spartans, all released in the late 2000s). Around the same time the decline of the spoof comedy began, the studio comedy started to become a lesser known property in the market place; Seth Rogen, Judd Apatow, Adam McKay-Will Ferrell films that dominated the culture and the box office were fading away at the same time streaming services were buying talent and releasing legacy sequels, of vastly inferior quality, and bypassing the theatrical experience altogether (with one as recently as the last two weeks…Mr. Gilmore).
Every once in a while, a studio, big or small, would release a comedy and it would be a welcomed reminder that these films, like Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar or Weird: The Al Yankovic Story, are vital more than ever, needing a good laugh to get through our troubling times; an absurdist comedy that allows us to chuckle at dumb jokes and escape. So what is the easiest way to get people back to the theater to laugh? Give them a film based on an existing IP that continues or ties into previous installments of a franchise. Yeah, you can do that. But what if in doing that, they brought on creatives that made a film that rivals the original films, and lays the groundwork not just as an excellent comedy in its own right, but has something to say about the current state of film and might be the film to jolt a struggling genre in the film industry? Well then, you would get Akiva Schaffer’s hilarious, brilliant new take on the Naked Gun franchise titled…The Naked Gun (seriously, we’ve got to come up with new names for these new legacy sequels).
Picking up years after the events of Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, Police Squad is still a force within the LAPD, thanks in large part to Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson), the best detective in the department, like his father before him. We are introduced to him in the middle of a bank robbery, as armed men are stealing millions of dollars while a shady henchman (Kevin Durand, not to be confused with NBA basketball player Kevin Durant) is stealing a device called the “P.L.O.T Device” for his boss, Richard Cane (Danny Huston). This device, much like the one used in the original 1988 film, has the power to turn people violently against each other, bringing about the end Los Angeles as we know it, leaving it behind for those select rich people who’ve attached themselves to Cane (think the plot of The Kingsman, only funny and actually good). Cane, an amusing stand-in for not just billionaires like Elon Musk (dangerous electric cars, world domination and all), but is also a sneaky attack on the mindset of the studio system and their dominance over the entertainment landscape with all things IP. Once his vision of the world is fully realized due to the success of the “device,” his billionaire friends and he will live in his new “marvel,” the goal of any IP nowaways by mindless studios. The one flaw of the film is not exploring this aspect more, but given the line is stated so outright, it’s hard to make the point clearer than they already did.
But as Cane is moving his pieces on the chessboard, Drebin is focused on taking out the other bad guys with humorous John Wick-esque violence, peeling off a Mission Impossible-style mask of a little girl, and fighting in a child-sized Girl Scout outfit. This isn’t the last time the film winks at or pokes fun at their successful franchise run by Mr. Cruise, as the opening title card is a literal play on the “light the fuse” sequences that start every Mission film, as well as using Mission Impossible: Fallout composer Lorne Balfe for the score. There is even an extended sequence in which Drebin and his team are trying to get a confession, and the layered bit is a wink to the Mission films as to how elaborate and ridiculous Ethan Hunt and his team’s methods are for getting information. Over a decade ago, David Zucker spoke about how a reboot needed to focus less on cop films and poke fun at the films that are popular in the moment, and clearly as Cruise makes his exit from the company, their newest film doesn’t mind cracking some jokes at the “king of Hollywood” big franchise as it’s done with clear affection for those films.
As the film begins, Frank is down on his luck, losing the love of his life, and barely getting through the day, let alone a cup of coffee (a running gag throughout the film, no matter the size of the cup). When he is taken off the bank robbery case by Police Squad Chief Davis (the excellent CCH Pounder, The Shield), he is assigned a car crash case involving Simon Davenport, a former employee of Cane’s company, and slowly starts to see a connection between both cases, along with Cane’s sinister, wacky plan at the center of both crimes. Caught in the middle of him stopping Cane is the victim’s sister, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), who wants justice for her brother and comes to Frank’s office looking for answers as to who could’ve killed him. Dressed in all white and known for being a novelist of murder mysteries, Anderson’s Beth is a nod to the infamous Catherine Tramell character Sharon Stone portrayed in Basic Instinct. But instead of taking the easy way to make a joke about that character and tie it to Anderson’s work here, the film instead takes the noir, sexual tension found in that film and plays with it to comical effect, much like Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley in the original film. In what might be a contender for not only scene of the year but the funniest scene of the decade, when Frank and Beth confess their love for one another, we are taken on a romantic getaway montage featuring the new couple spending time at a cabin in the woods. Their love making slowly turns creepy and into a séance to remove a spirit from where they are staying, only for the spirit to go into a snow man they built on their first day, and their duo turns into a bizarre throuple, resulting in a moment of slasher, physiological horror from the snowman when Frank and Beth turn him away in the bedroom, filling the winter creature with jealousy and rage. Dialogue free, using Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” to guide the audience through this sequence, it ranks high on the best comedic-montage sequences of all time, alongside the original film’s Herman’s Hermits “I’m Into Something Good” scene and the “Pleasure Town” moment from Anchorman, accompanied by Tom Jones’ “Help Yourself.” Throughout this entire sequence, and in the rest of the film, Anderson shines brightly with her comedic timing, showcasing a range we normally don’t get to see from her, allowing her to showcase her versatility as a performer, from slapstick humor to hilariously having to perform scat music in a nightclub. It’s easily some of the best work of her career.
As for Neeson, this was a role he was born to play. Known at the beginning of his career as a serious character actor, in the late 2000s, he made a massive pivot to being in action movies, most notably the Taken franchise. The “particular set of skills” monologue from the first entry has become a pillar of his late career, with the actor phoning in the same character over and over again in mindless entertainment featuring the same plot and action devices. So with The Naked Gun, Neeson, who has briefly showcased his humorous side in The Lego Movie and cameos in various Seth MacFarlane projects (a producer on this film), gets to go all out and make fun of the action genre that he’s become a staple in over the last two decades. Much like Neilson before him, his dramatic acting background is a perfect tool to lean on here, as we see him deliver dozens of lines so effortlessly straightforward; their goofiness is effective and shines because of his natural comedic timing. Whether he is asking someone about being convicted for “man’s laughter,” or a scene where he is making a “turkey dinner” with Anderson, or accidentally sets himself up for the murder of a man connected to Cane, or talking about how much he and Cane love The Black Eyed Peas (especially Fergie), Neeson delivers a comedic performance for the ages as well as one of the best performances of his career.
Besides the two leads, as well as hysterical performances from Huston and Paul Walter Hauser as Ed Hocken Jr., the real star of the show is writer-director Akiva Schaffer. Known mostly as one-third of the comedy music group, The Lonely Island, Schaffer has quietly built a legacy as one of the best comedic directors of our time, with sidesplitting, entertaining films like Hot Rod, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, and Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers helmed under his creative mind, each commenting on something topical, relatable to their times; – the immaturity of men, refusal to grow up, holding onto the past, and the ridiculous nature of fame consuming you a shell of your former self. With The Naked Gun, Schaffer, alongside his Chip ‘n Dale writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, taps into the ongoing problem facing their genre, nostalgia. It’s an issue commented on within the first fifteen minutes of the film, with Frank Jr., alongside every other cop who is directly related to a former member of Police Squad, including Nordberg Jr., played briefly by Moses Jones. How do you create something original and fresh to audiences when you are stuck working in a cinematic world that is established and has been tapped into several times? For Schaffer and his team, they have the answer: play by your own rules and make something that’s both funny and good. Audiences don’t need every story or character tied into the past or a plot over-explained; they just need a good movie. Though if you are going to bring back a character from previous installments, make sure you do it like The Naked Gun and make it a real hoot.
2025’s The Naked Gun is a fresh take on the spoof comedy that honors the past by being one hundred percent its own silly, goofy, ten jokes a minute self, poking fun at just about everything and everyone in the cop, spy, true crime genre. It’s refreshing to see an 85-minute studio comedy have this level of quality and care put into it. The only hope is that we see more films like this made over the coming years, both in quantity and quality. Because we all know, when a movie as good as this one comes along, Hollywood always learns the right thing and wouldn’t beat a dead horse with multiple watered-down sequels, or use more past comedic IP franchises like The Pink Panther to make a quick buck. That’s just silly talk.
Grade: B+
Paramount Pictures will release The Naked Gun only in theaters on August 1.
- Ethan Hawke on How It Was the Right Time To Make ‘Blue Moon’ with Director Richard Linklater [VIDEO INTERVIEW] - December 2, 2025
- Jeremy Allen White on the Responsibility and Hard Work Needed to Transform into The Boss in ‘Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere’ [VIDEO INTERVIEW] - December 1, 2025
- AwardsWatch Podcast Ep. 317 – Oscars Retrospective of the 68th Academy Awards - December 1, 2025
‘Jay Kelly,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Task’ and More on AFI’s Top 10 Films and Television of 2025 Lists 
‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards 
Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award 
National Board of Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ Tops in Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor; Netflix Lands Four in Top 10