Film review: ‘THE NAKED GUN’ by Nick Gardener from ‘Built For Speed’
Cop show parody, The Naked Gun (1988) was classic Zucker brothers humour with silly word play, send ups of Hollywood clichés and surreal sight gags revolving around the bumbling Captain Frank Drebin’s (Leslie Nielsen) complete obliviousness to reality and capacity for unintentional destruction. The quality of the Naked Gun movies declined across the sequels but some people, including producer Seth McFarlane, clearly thought there was enough life left in the concept for a reboot. It seemed a very dubious gamble, reanimating a series that was really just an enjoyably silly lark. Surprisingly, they’ve pulled it off.
Leslie Nielsen is, sadly, no longer with us so, stepping into the lead is Liam Neeson who plays Drebin’s son Frank Jr. He’s on the trail of, guess what, an evil tech billionaire (Danny Huston) who wants to upend civilisation with a ludicrous mind control machine (just check out the name of the device). Alarmingly, the fate of humanity rests in the very unsafe hands of Frank Drebin Jr. Aided by Beth (Pamela Anderson) the sister of a murdered software engineer connected to the case, Drebin manages to cause even more mayhem than the device he’s trying to retrieve.
For the most part, the film follows the original series’ template of rapid fire gags that hit us so quickly if one flops we barely notice as a semi-decent joke quickly replaces it. Director Akiva Schaffer along with fellow writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand occasionally make the unwise decision, though, to ditch this approach and indulge some long-winded sequences including a mirthless set piece involving a battle with a snowman.
The casting of Liam Neeson in the role of the ridiculous cop Drebin seemed an odd choice. Neeson’s career has largely been defined by gritty action movies and anti-hero roles so a switch to comedy looked destined for disaster. The original Frank Drebin, Leslie Nielsen was a serious actor before his outrageous turn in Flying High put an end to that but Neeson is jumping straight from drama into loopy comedy. Thankfully, Neeson proves a fine choice and actually makes a virtue of his serious actor persona by essentially taking the piss out of it. It looks like Neeson is having a lot of fun with the role.
Much has been made in the media of Neeson and Anderson’s off-screen chemistry and while we might speculate about studio marketing ploys, the two work well together on screen making a likeable pairing and both are in tune with the film’s inherent silliness.
Some of this film is just too juvenile and ridiculous for adults to tolerate but overall the gag success rate is pretty high. The Naked Gun reboot is no comedy classic but it’s better than expected.
Nick’s rating: ***
Genre: Comedy.
Classification: M.
Director(s): Akiva Schaffer.
Release date: 21st Aug 2025.
Running time: 85 mins.
Reviewer: Nick Gardener can be heard on “Built For Speed” every Friday night from 8-10pm on 88.3 Southern FM.