Few films date themselves faster than The Naked Gun, a reboot of the beloved spoof franchise that feels like a time capsule from an era when zany humor ruled.
Hollywood doesn’t even attempt this style anymore, and when it does, you get atrocities like Scary Movie 5—the kind of dreck that only Tubi would touch with a ten-foot pole. Paramount, sniffing a chance to cash in on nostalgia during a comedy drought, decided to dust off this relic, betting that audiences desperate for a laugh would embrace the absurdity.
Spoiler: they half-succeed. The Naked Gun isn’t a total disaster, but it’s a far cry from the gut-busting brilliance of the Leslie Nielsen days. The golden rule of ridiculous movies is simple: own the stupidity upfront, set the tone, and audiences will lower their guards for gags that’d otherwise get eyerolls.
The Naked Gun gets this right—sometimes. From the opening scene, where a bank heist devolves into a slapstick free-for-all with exploding bagels and a runaway Roomba, the film screams, “Don’t take me seriously!” It’s a smart move, letting you forgive some of the clunkier bits. But the charm wears thin when the jokes lean on dated tropes or try too hard to be “2025 relevant” with TikTok references and AI punchlines that land like a lead balloon.
Liam Neeson, of all people, steps into the oversized shoes of Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., a dimwitted supercop so clueless you wonder how he hasn’t set his toaster on fire. Neeson, known for growling through Taken sequels, plays against type with surprising gusto, stumbling through scenes with a deadpan delivery that occasionally channels Nielsen’s magic. After botching a bank robbery takedown—think Keystone Cops meets a Looney Tunes cartoon—Frank thinks he’s saved the day, only to learn the robbers swiped a MacGuffin called the P.L.O.T. Device (“Primordial Law Of Toughness”).
This absurdly named gizmo, a glowing orb that “amplifies toughness”, kicks off a convoluted plot involving a tech billionaire villain who wants to weaponize it for world domination. It’s the kind of setup that worked in 1988 because it didn’t pretend to make sense, but here it feels like a Reddit thread stretched to 90 minutes.
The film’s biggest sin is inconsistency. When it leans into pure silliness—like Frank accidentally launching a hot dog cart into a mayoral speech or mistaking a therapy session for an interrogation—it’s genuinely funny, capturing the anarchic spirit of the original. But too often, it veers into self-aware winking or shoehorns modern gags (a running bit about Frank’s “hacked” smart fridge feels like a studio note gone rogue).
The Zucker brothers’ formula thrived on relentless gags, not social commentary, and director Akiva Schaffer struggles to balance homage with innovation. The result is a film that feels like it’s apologizing for being a spoof, afraid to fully commit to the absurdity that made the original a classic.
The supporting cast is a mixed bag. Pamela Anderson as a femme fatale nails the campy vibe, stealing scenes with a knowing smirk, but the rest feel like they’re reading from different scripts. The production values are slicker than the ‘80s originals, with crisp visuals and a zippy score, but the CGI-heavy set pieces lack the tactile charm of practical stunts.
What saves The Naked Gun from total irrelevance is its sporadic hilarity and Neeson’s commitment to the bit. He’s no Nielsen, but his earnest bumbling elicits enough chuckles to keep you watching. The half-baked charm: it’s not the trainwreck of, say, Holmes & Watson, but it’s no Airplane! either.
Fans of the original might find fleeting joy in the callbacks—like a reimagined “Nice beaver!” gag—but newcomers will wonder why this exists. It’s a noble attempt to revive a dead art form, but it’s stuck in a no-man’s-land between nostalgia and now, neither sharp enough to cut through 2025’s noise nor bad enough to be a meme-worthy flop. Watch it once, laugh a few times, and forget it.
3/5
Society Reviews 
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