You have one job if you’re gonna dip your toes in the IP game: capture the essence. If you show fans of the previous films that you love the stuff you’re adapting, worst case you’ll make something fun. And who better to revere the comedic brilliance of the Naked Gun movies than Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer? That pairing is a perfect match, one of many this 2025 reboot holds, along with a straight face and a silly backdrop.
After our introduction to Frank Drebin (Liam Neeson), the son of the Leslie Nielsen OG (RIP), we learn that Chief Davis (CCH Pounder) is unhappy with the liberties Frank takes that make Police Squad look bad. So he’s reassigned to traffic accidents, where the mystery leftovers from the bank heist Drebin stopped crash headlong, dragging in Tech supergenius Richard Cane (Danny Houston), Drebin’s partner Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser), and a mysterious woman, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), whom everyone in the Police Squad happy monologues in their heads about, drowning out Frank’s own musings.
The Naked Gun was gonna work because Schaffer found a lead trio who knows what they signed up for. Liam Neeson and Schaffer clearly talked, and took the big message to heart. This movie works because there’s no winking from Neeson whatsoever: as far as Frank Drebin is concerned, he’s really in the middle of a murder mystery, trying to bring the bad guys to justice. The “no winks” approach is refreshingly old school and works wonders compared to the self-referential commentary comedy of today. Neeson doesn’t have Leslie Nielsen’s wonderfully expressive face, but he wins by committing to the bit, ceding all the crazy reactions to Paul Walter Hauser. Hauser’s tragically underutilized here, because when he’s given something fun to do it works like the killer bit he’s got in the final act. And then there’s Pamela Anderson. The Last Showgirl proved there’s more to the 90s heartthrob besides her looks, and in The Naked Gun she shows again that that film was no fluke. It’s a bit of discount Marilyn Monroe, but it completely works for the film, the Betty Boop voice and big earnest face selling the sh*t out of this daffy material.
So with the great cast onboard, Akiva Schaffer can build the jokes pyramid. The foundation is a combination of the Naked Gun style humor of sight gags and literal translations of noir lines, but through the foundation of this new cast. Schaffer uses a lot of walk and talks to pile in joke after joke after joke…after joke, as Frank get’s handed a bigger cup of coffee reading through a police file…while a pinata party celebrating someone’s retirement leads to multiple people being hit with bats. Neeson’s line deliveries sometimes work and sometimes don’t with the literal translations (How did she pass? “She’s got a hell of arm, nearly went pro!”), Pam Anderson fares better there. But the sight gags are the big winners, finding some truly clever stuff like a wonderful Mission Impossible Spoof that had me chuckling longer than I thought I would.
We’ll see if the kids find The Naked Gun as winning as I thought it was. If it isn’t an in theater splash, it’s a killer date night at home flick, guaranteed to tickle the funny bone. Now pull out your elbow, so I can make you laugh, Frank Drebin!