The Naked Gun (2025)
Directed by Akiva Shaffer
Starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder
Only one man has the particular set of skills… to lead Police Squad and save the world: Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. Following in his father’s footsteps, he must solve a murder case to prevent Police Squad from closure.
Rating: 7/10
I was twelve when the original The Naked Gun came out. I can’t remember if I watched it in the theaters, but I watched it many times on home video and loved it. It was one of those movies that seemed to be always playing on cable TV. Or my friends and family members would rent it regularly. I remember seeing it often. I remember it would come on, and me and whoever was with me would sit and watch it.
It was a film that everyone seemed to love. Me, my friends, my parents, sibling, and other relatives. It felt like the funniest movie ever. I watched both sequels in the theater. I remember liking the second one quite a bit but finding the third to be rather terrible. I think most people did, as the franchise kind of died afterward.
And then we all collectively forgot about the films. I hadn’t thought about them in years. I think last year, or maybe the year before, I caught the first one on some streaming service. It was funny, but not hilarious. My sense of humor has changed since I was twelve, and I don’t tend to like movies that are just one joke after the other without much story.
Which brings me to this new one. When it came out, a lot of the critics I follow were excited about it. Some were declaring it the future of cinema. I guess a lot of straight-up comedies don’t make it to the cinemas much anymore, so the fact that this one had big stars and got a real theatrical release got them excited.
I skipped it in the theater because, again, my comedy instincts are weird, and this looked like non-stop gags. But I finally caught up with it this weekend, and guess what? It’s funny.
Liam Neeson is terrific in this. He’s basically sending the type of character he’s played in a thousand movies. He plays it completely straight, which makes all the insanity going on around him that much funnier.
As I figured, there are a lot of gags. I won’t say too many of them because that is how this type of comedy works, but it was a lot. Quite a lot of them worked for me. Not all of them, probably not even half of them, but that’s the thing with throwing tons of jokes at the audince – if only a small percentage of them work, we are still laughing quite a lot.
themidnightcafe.org 
I have too much love for the originals, i really don’t get why they just keep remaking other films. Don’t get me wrong i am glad you enjoyed it, but where is their imagination!
I hate that everything now has to be tied to some IP as well. But for something like this where the original were just a bunch of silliness and there isn’t any real mythology tied to the originals I don’t mind so much. I mean I’d still prefer an original comedy, but I’ll take my laughs where I can get them.
I agree, i think i have such reverance for the originals. The scenes were to me real comedy classics, i could never compare any other films to them. It’s good though that you enjoyed it, it’s not a criticism of the film per se. Maybe it’s nostalgia, but if it is, i like it anyhow! I think Leslie Nielsen was so, so good, along with all the other characters, forgetting Simpson of course. Great films, i saw the third one at the cinema, all three were a riot.
I should probably rewatch the sequels sometime. I think I’ve only seen then once and I don’t remember anything about them.
Oh Mat please do, both are great. Some of the scenes in them stick in my head!