The return of The Naked Gun does not go half-cocked. This laugh-a-minute revival of the zany David Zucker/Leslie Nielsen comedy captures the spirit of the original. Any future remake should take a cue from this irreverently, riotously, and stupidly funny nod to the 1988 cop comedy. Liam Neeson fills Nielsen’s shoes surprisingly well, although the pants seem less tailor-made. But it turns out that Neeson knows how to play a good sight gag with his trousers below his ankles.
The star of Schindler’s List and Taken adds an unexpectedly great twist to his varied résumé. Neeson proves extremely funny here. As Lt. Frank Dreblin, Jr., the son of Nielsen’s original sleuth, The Naked Gun offers a great case of like father, like son. As with Nielsen, Neeson shows himself a master of deadpan delivery and wry comedic timing. He plays the dignified doofus well.
In tone, tempo, and humour, Neeson revives Dreblin’s spirit for a new generation. The Naked Gun puts the detective on a convoluted case. It begins with a bank robbery and a good send-up to Tom Cruise’s Mission: Impossible stunts as Dreblin pulls off his mask and takes down an arsenal of bad guys. The robbery, however, serves as a distraction while hired goon Gustafson (Kevin Durand) lifts a gizmo, aptly named the “P.L.O.T. device,” from a safe deposit box. He passes it off to tech mogul Richard Cane (Danny Huston) while Dreblin continues kicking ass in the lobby.
But a few arrests and several dozen coffees later, Dreblin lands another strange case. It’s a car accident where the driver seemingly went over a cliff without tapping the breaks. Dreblin quickly rules it a suicide, but the victim’s sister, Beth (Pamela Anderson), refuses to accept that theory. Quickly smitten by Beth—a woman with “a seat that could make a toilet wish for brown,” asDreblin romantically and eloquently surmises in voiceover—the detective explores the accident as suspicious.
Directed by Akiva Schaffer (Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers), who co-wrote the script with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, this Naked Gun knows exactly the comedic tone with which to strike. It’s unabashedly stupid in a way that studio comedies are often too timid to be these days. And yet it inspires collective guffaws and one uncontrollable chortle after another thanks to some well-timed farts, ridiculous dad puns, background sight gags, and one Bill Cosby joke that’s so funny one can only assume Pamela Anderson’s spit-take to be genuine. A studio comedy hasn’t been this much fun since Bridesmaids.
The film also harnesses the brainwave of the original in ways that few updates do. There are references to aspects of the Naked Gun that haven’t aged so well, like co-star O.J. Simpson killing his wife. The film acknowledges this awkward bit from the outset, which delivers one of its biggest laughs. As the camera moves down the line to introduce the new generation of cops, each one seemingly the son of a former Police Squad hero, it pans to Nordberg, Jr. (Moses Jones) and cuts to the old portrait of Simpson as Nordberg. The younger actor playfully shakes his head. Cue a laugh and Nordberg goes the way of Poochie. He’s seemingly lost while returning to his home planet, never to be seen again.
Not every jokes works, though. An overlong Buffy and TiVo gag, for example, feels anachronistic and runs out of gas quickly if one’s not a fan of the vampire slayer. But the laughs come so quickly and in such high volume that the energy never sags. Some bits that aren’t all that funny, like Dreblin and his partner Hocken (Paul Walter Hauser) dumping and refreshing coffee cup after coffee cup, eventually draw solid laughs simply thanks to everyone’s commitment to the bit. Even the credits have jokes upon jokes. It’s 80 minutes of breezy summer escapism.
While one-liners, sight gags, and they-really-went-there laughs make this return a winner, the real coup of The Naked Gun is its casting. Neeson doesn’t immediately come to mind as a comedic actor. Nor does Pamela Anderson. But the laughs are heightened here by the inspired casting against type. Anderson, like Neeson, has terrific comedic timing and she’s very funny by playing it straight. She’s also a great sport about the sexualisation of her character, while the script smartly lets Beth in on the jokes without making Anderson the butt of them. After The Last Showgirl, Anderson’s turn continues her well-earned second act as Beth gamely plays the dumb blonde. Her stealth mode underscores the genius of the film: It takes a lot of smarts to be this stupid.
