Akiva Schaffer’s The Naked Gun is a thrilling reinvigoration of the parody genre and one of the best comedies in years.
Even if you’ve seen the original Naked Gun trilogy, there’s a decent chance you’ve never watched or even heard of the original television series the films were based on. Police Squad! was cancelled after just six episodes despite being one of the greatest comedies of all time, but being so short allowed it to find enough success on home video to justify a theatrical film. The whole thing running about two-and-a-half hours also means one could conceivably watch the whole thing in a single sitting, potentially right now before reading the rest of this review. At the very least, it will be a good reminder of what a comedy is.
That’s right… comedy! The bygone genre devoted to making you laugh. Comedies have had a rough go over the last few years, with anything lacking dramatic edge or genre flair limited largely to streaming, where it’s likely to be ignored if it doesn’t feature Adam Sandler in some fashion. Even something like Barbie had to inject some pretty serious societal commentary to get by. Akiva Schaffer’s The Naked Gun is a throwback to a time when comedies were theatrical mainstays whose primary purpose was to be as funny as possible. Now, the 2025 theatrical landscape has no idea what to do with this kind of movie. It’s not a coincidence that the trailers that played at my screening were entirely Oscar frontrunners with the exception of the upcoming rereleases of Trainwreck and The 40-Year-Old Virgin. Hollywood has forgotten what it’s like to laugh without baggage.
If he was good at this, he wouldn’t be a cop.
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
The Naked Gun stars Liam Neeson at Lieutenant Frank Drebin, Jr., the son of the Frank Drebin character that Leslie Nielsen portrayed in the original series. Longtime fans will probably clock that Frank Jr. was born in 1994 during the events of Naked Gun 33⅓, which would presumably have the character closer to the age of 30 than Neeson’s 73. This can be explained by the Drebins being very bad at math.
Drebin is joined by Ed Hocken, Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser), the son of Drebin Sr.’s longtime captain (originally played by Alan North and George Kennedy). The duo never lets their obvious incompetence stop them from closing a case, but growing public scrutiny towards police violence has forced Chief Davis (CCH Pounder) to reassign them to minor cases. When a seemingly innocuous car accident quickly gives way to a larger conspiracy, Drebin is thrown into the path of Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), a femme fatale novelist, and Richard Cane (Danny Huston), an electric vehicle magnate turned fascist oligarch who is mad about not being able to say the R-word anymore. Sound familiar? Cane plans to use his newly developed P.L.O.T. Device to broadcast a cell phone signal that turns all humans into violent animals, and an idiot might be just the man to take him down.
Neeson is perfectly cast.
Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures
Screenwriters Schaffer (Saturday Night Live), Dan Gregor (How I Met Your Mother), and Doug Mand (Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers) don’t hesitate to throw in direct references to the last decade of action films. You might have already recognized the villain’s plot from Kingsman: The Secret Service. Thankfully, the new Naked Gun manages to sidestep the common parody pratfall of being so topical that it dates every jokes. Most significantly, The Naked Gun is just as dedicated to devoted to referencing Police Squad! and the original The Naked Gun trilogy as it is anything else. This team clearly loves the franchise they’re stepping into and it’s obvious in every gag and guffaw.
Neeson is absolutely brilliant as the Drebin Jr. The actor’s comedic turn over the last few years has largely consisted of him giving wholly dramatic performances over a comedic backdrop, which makes him the perfect choice to fill Nielsen’s iconic shoes. His chemistry with the cast (especially Anderson) shines, but most impressive is his stamina in keeping up with the film’s comedic beats. The Naked Gun fires punchlines like shotgun blasts. If a joke doesn’t land for you, another will hit in two seconds. Or, more likely, if you missed a joke because you were laughing to hard at the one right before it, don’t worry! Another is about to land.
The bottom line.
The spitfire comedy of The Naked Gun is something that we haven’t gotten in a studio film in some time. And how well it’s executed here really demonstrates the extent to which Hollywood has been missing this sort of comedy. The fact that Schaffer, Gregor, and Mand have managed to squeeze in a story between 85 minutes of nonstop comedy is impressive, as is the fact that it almost immediately demands a rewatch. Hopefully this is the sign of more to come.
The Naked Gun is now playing in theaters everywhere. Watch the trailer here.
Images courtesy of Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures. Read more articles by Brogan Luke Bouwhuis here.
REVIEW RATING
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The Naked Gun - 8/10
8/10
Brogan is a Salt Lake City-based writer and film festival programmer who has watched more Scooby-Doo than the majority of the human population. You can find him on social media at @roboteatsdino or at roboteatsdinosaur.com
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