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Review: ‘The Naked Gun’ is a Silly Summer Comedy that Perfectly Captures the Tone and Spirit of the Originals
July 30, 2025Ben MK
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Whether you’re a child of the '70s, '80s, '90s or early 2000s, chances are you grew up with comedies like Blazing Saddles, Airplane, Austin Powers and Scary Movie. Once the bread and butter of many a Hollywood movie studio, the parody genre has generally fallen out of favor in recent years. But whether audiences' changing tastes or society's growing insensitivity to politically incorrect humor are to blame, as the classic saying goes, they just don't make 'em like they used to. It's a phrase that conjures up warm feelings of nostalgia, especially when it comes to the cinema-going experience. And with The Naked Gun, director Akiva Schaffer is taking moviegoers back to a time when mainstream theatrical comedies were the norm, in this reboot of one of the genre's most beloved franchises. Set decades after the original Naked Gun films starring Leslie Nielsen, the story centers on his character's son, Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson), a grizzled Los Angeles police detective who has followed in his late father's footsteps. As one of Police Squad's most decorated officers, Frank is a second-generation cop whose insatiable thirst for bringing criminals to justice and whose flagrant willingness to break the rules has made him one of the department's most legendary veterans. But when he stumbles into both a robbery investigation and a murder case linked to billionaire tech mogul Richard Cane (Danny Huston), it puts Frank in the middle of a dastardly scheme that could very well rewrite the future of humanity. The CEO of Edentech, Cane has become well known for manufacturing everything from electric cars to gadgets for boosting men's sperm counts. With his company's latest innovation, the Primary Law of Toughness Device, however, he's planning on taking over something bigger than just the consumer goods industry — he's planning on taking over the world. A contraption capable of rewiring people's brains, the P.L.O.T. Device was originally conceived to help calm people down. With the mere flip of a switch, however, Cane intends to do precisely the opposite, turning the citizens of Los Angeles — and populations all across the globe — against one another until most of humanity has wiped itself out, leaving Cane and his super-wealthy inner circle to emerge from their apocalypse bunker and rule over this new planetary utopia. It's a ruthless scheme worthy of a Bond villain, and one that has also resulted in Cane murdering anyone that gets in his way, including the original inventor of the P.L.O.T. Device, the brother of Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson). What Cane doesn't count on, though, is just how far Beth will go to find justice for her brother. And when she and Frank find themselves both chasing after the same thing, it sets the stage not only for some steamy romance between the pair, but also for a climactic confrontation between Frank and Cane, as these two men battle for the fate of the world, as well as for the satisfaction of their egos. Written by Schaffer, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, and produced by Family Guy's Seth MacFarlane, the result feels very much on point with the tone and spirit of its predecessors, with Neeson doing a fantastic job channeling the same goofy humor and physical comedy that made Nielsen's performances in the originals so deliciously off-the-wall. And while he and Anderson make for a perfect modern-day update to the coupling of Nielsen and Priscilla Presley, what really makes The Naked Gun such a raucous success is its commitment to its ridiculously tongue-in-cheek premise, its numerous sight gags, and its non-stop array of cheesy dad jokes, some of which fall slightly flat, but the majority of which ought to leave audiences rolling in the aisles. Throw in a handful of crowd-pleasing homages to the first movie, including a cameo from Weird Al Yankovic, and scenes spoofing other films, such as The Dark Knight, Mission: Impossible - Fallout, and even Jack Frost, and you have the makings of one of the better franchise reboots to come along in recent memory. Make no mistake, The Naked Gun isn't likely to earn any nominations come awards season, nor is it likely to land on too many critics' top ten lists come end of the year. When it comes to being a hilariously entertaining throwback and the perfect guilty pleasure, on the other hand, it's easily number one with a bullet. The Naked Gun releases August 1st, 2025 from Paramount Pictures. The film has an MPAA rating of PG-13 for crude/sexual material, violence/bloody images and brief partial nudity. Its runtime is 1 hr. 25 min. |
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