FILM REVIEW
THE NAKED GUN
Rated PG-13
85 Minutes
Released August 1st
The Naked Gun plays to high expectations due to its historic legacy, but its creative pedigree brings us the height of comedy with the concept, a director with an SNL background, and two extraordinary actors as the leads. The original movie, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! starring Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley, came out in 1988 and is now a classic – a tough act to follow some 37 years later. Rest assured, the modern version is just as hysterical as the original, the new cast and story delivering the same satiric rapid-fire send-ups of everything in our culture that’s taken too seriously.
The first half launches rapid-fire jokes, leaving watchers rolling in the aisles. The opening features a joke based on formulaic screenwriting, leading to voluminous satire on action films, screen violence, and any other device that’s gone too far in all styles of filmmaking…well, the whole movie is a sendup of overused plotlines, derivative screenplays, scenes that we have sat through a zillion times in as many movies. But here, they have a twist or surprise that leaves you in stitches – there’s even a joke built on the word ‘laughter.”
In the second half, the characters’ stories move to the forefront. Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson as “Frank Drebin Jr.” and “Beth Davenport,” both play “straight men” to the hilt, with the movie itself as the comedian, while generating a great on-screen heat.
CCH Pounder as the beleaguered police chief provides the realism that sets up much of Neeson’s antics. Everyone in this movie, and probably the crew too, was obviously having a blast shooting it, and the humor in the film puts the world in perspective, at least for those 85 minutes you spend in The Naked Gun’s realm.
Director Akiva Schaffer brings great credentials to this film, having written almost 100 Saturday Night Live episodes and directed over 65. He was once a rapper with the Lonely Island comedy team with Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone, hence his ability to conduct rapid-fire verbal patter.
The style parodies the film noir movies of the 1940s and 1950s, highly stylized and deadly serious murder mysteries played out mostly at night against dark backdrops. Schaffer and cinematographer Brandon Trost took the brightness down a notch from a normal comedic environment. Neeson’s Drebin is the “innocent” who everything happens to. He just stays the course, unscathed and unaware, where anyone else would have been shell-shocked, quite the same as in his serious action roles. Anderson so gets the body language and voice of her sexy ’50s lounge singer character, she’s a joy to watch.
Neeson is an actor who can kill it as a serious action star and is not afraid to turn the page and parody himself, which makes this movie especially funny. In the earlier Naked Gun movies, Nielsen (the similarity in their names is uncanny) was able to do the same, having made his reputation as a dramatic actor first, and then sliding into comedy with Airplane! (1980) prior to starring in the original Naked Gun trilogy. This illustrates my oft-repeated point that tragedy and comedy are super-close cousins.
Neeson didn’t grow up intending to be an actor. As a young man in his home country of Northern Ireland, he was a forklift driver for Guinness, a truck driver, an assistant architect, and an amateur boxer. He decided to do a play at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin for fun, and was spotted by film director John Boorman, who was at the time living in Ireland, and cast him as “Sir Gawain” in Excalibur (1981). Neeson has worked in film steadily ever since.
Anderson is known worldwide for her roles on Baywatch (1992-1997) and Home Improvement (1991-1997). Few realize that she is a consummate performer, constantly studying and perfecting her craft, with years of experience in film, TV, and musical theatre. Her family couldn’t afford dance or acting lessons when she was a child, so she persuaded a friend to teach her what she learned in class.
In 2022, Anderson played “Roxy Hart” in Chicago on Broadway. At this point in her career, she says, “I’m just a sponge right now. Even at my age, I feel I’m just beginning.” She was nominated for Best Actress at the 2025 Academy Awards for The Last Showgirl. At 58, she’s working more than ever.
In so many action movies, characters seem unable to laugh at themselves. This movie offers welcome relief, with a parody of so many classic action flicks. You will recognize a lot of Tom-Cruise-style “impossible” antics, and scenes mirroring James Bond, Jason Bourne, and Neeson’s three Taken movies.
One of Schaffer’s favorite spy movies, the 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies, was an inspiration for this film, as was the Mission: Impossible franchise. For The Naked Gun, Schaffer even hired Lorne Balfe, the composer who scored two of those Mission: Impossible films.
This version of The Naked Gun is not a rehash – it stands on its own. See it in a theatre so you can roll in the aisles with the rest of the audience. Yes, there is a message: We don’t laugh enough. World leaders take note.
Kathryn Whitney Boole has spent most of her life in the entertainment industry, which has been the backdrop for remarkable adventures with extraordinary people. She is a Talent Manager with Studio Talent Group in Santa Monica. kboole@gmail.com
