Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (played by Liam Neeson) works in the same LAPD Police Squad as his late father but learns that the business is set to be decommissioned as police stories aren’t popular anymore. Although he’s resigned from a bank robbery case due to his over-the-top law enforcement methods, he learns that a gadget known as the ‘’P. L. O. T Device’’ was stolen, leading him to a string of murders that all tie back to Richard Caine (played by Danny Huston), a wealthy tech CEO who plans to use the device to rewire humanity’s brains into a more primal state. With Drebin getting assistance from crime author, Beth (played by Pamela Anderson) who’s brother was killed by Caine, the road to redeeming Police Squad is now in Drebin Jr’s hands, but does he have the wits to solve this case without mucking it up.
This modern-day rendition of the 90s parody series operates on a similarly stupid wavelength when it comes to its story, characters and humour, and in any other time period, would be viewed as nothing special, but in this current cinematic landscape, its dumbness is strangely appreciated and feels executed well enough to claim success.
A fourth NAKED GUN had been in talks since 2009, but delays, conflicts with Paramount, and script changes halted the project. It wasn’t until 2021 when Seth MacFarlane got involved that this revival started to come together, with him helping Neeson get the leading role, acting as a producer alongside Erica Huggins and their production company, Fuzzy Door Productions, and would contribute to the script alongside the film’s screenwriters, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (despite not get credited). He was also in contention to direct, but that role would go to Akiva Schaffer, who only recently came into public awareness for his surreal, nostalgic-adjacent, adult adaptation of Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, and for writing the critically acclaimed 2020 sci-fi romantic comedy, Palm Springs, as his past comedies never clicked with audiences and continually bombed at the box office.
Since parody as a genre has been dead for years, and with the people responsible for the original films being unwilling to work on any future adaptations, this movie by all accounts shouldn’t have worked, but while not exceeding expectations, it’s able to do its duty at being a silly funny movie. It’s strange to praise a film for being brainless, but this kind of ‘’no-thinking-required’’ movie is scarcely made nowadays, and it reminds people that dumb fun can be worth something. It’s smart enough to be dumb correctly, and even though Schaeffer and MacFarlane don’t have the cleanest track record, they have enough awareness on pop culture and referential humour to lead to some good material and feel like the right people to lead this sequel. The jokes aren’t incredibly funny or original, but whether due to the retro vibe, blatantly stupid gags, or willingness to do or say things usually viewed as taboo, it feels like a remnant of the past with the added benefit of modern-day technology and timing. The story and characters are a joke but are played as such, the dialogue doesn’t usually get a huge laugh, but most of the sight gags are pretty entertaining, it’s a merciful short film and doesn’t overstay its welcome, and while basic and not the most memorable, it has enough staying power through its dedicated performances and in-your-face skits to feel like it deserved to get made.
All the characters are archetypes, and considering it’s a cop story (which are known to be a bit repetitive and tropey), it’s safe to presume they know they’re working with an outdated framework. Because of this, most of the humour regarding the force is nothing special and this is also true for the characters, who play typical roles associated with procedural narratives, but aren’t given anything new to compensate. What makes this okay is the acting, as everyone feels specifically chosen to mirror how the previous series was cast, and even the unexpected choices feel perfect. Liam Neeson is a good actor but isn’t known for comedic work and hasn’t been in a credible film for years, but his unconventionality is what makes his casting as the lead great, with his gravitas and dramatic voice making his delivery of extremely juvenile things all the more entertaining, and nicely separates him from Nielsen’s portrayal (who operated on a similar mindset, but with more of a debonair angle), he’s easily the best part of the film.
Pamela Anderson has been on a bit of a career resurgence, and her casting as the blond bombshell/love interest is a fitting next step. She doesn’t have anything amazing to work with, but she works with the tone, has enough solid comedic timing, and shares pretty nice chemistry with Neeson (which considering they’re in a relationship now explains a lot). Danny Huston has played the villain so often that it feels like fate he’d play an evil CEO in a parody, CCH Pounder and Paul Walter Hauser don’t bring anything new to improve their bland caricatures, but act them well enough to not be distracting, and people like Cody Rhodes, Busta Rhymes, Kevin Durand, Liza Koshy, Dave Bautista, and Weird ‘Al’ Yankovic feel like the kind of obscure cameos that’d appear in the Nielsen films, so it’s nice they held onto that staple.
The benefit of a comedy is that they usually don’t require a lot of money, and while it still had a decent budget of $42 million which can be felt by the overall clean look, it has a small scale to it outside of a few big set pieces and props, but that proves to be a good thing. There’s an artificiality to this picture that strangely works in its favor, as it’s awareness of the ridiculous tone allows for a sense of freedom regarding the humor, which in turn leads to some silly, but otherwise charming visual gags. It creates a tone where anything feels possible and despite playing things pretty standard in one moment, the next might feature something so out of left field that it can’t help but result in a chuckle (particularly something to do with a snowman), it makes up for the predictability of the script and keeps the audience on guard for what to expect. Most of the crude humor is strangely done pretty well, there’s a nice classical feel to some of the references which keeps it from becoming dated, the cinematography by Brandon Trost and the musical score by Lorne Balfe isn’t extremely memorable, but is presented in a enjoyably dramatic sense which adds to the comedy, and while rated PG-13, there’s a few jokes that push that rating in a striking fashion.
The NAKED GUN films were never phenomenal, didn’t have the most creative zingers or scenarios, and were mainly held together by simple charm and Leslie Nielsen’s talent, so it’s kind of nice and somewhat ironic that this legacy sequel feels about the same in quality, yet strangely stronger at the same time. This could be because this form of comedy is pretty rare nowadays (making what should be basic feel fresh) but even with its clear flaws like pretty standard writing and intentionally bland story and characters, the talented people behind-the-scenes and in front of the screen go a long way to making this movie enjoyable, sparky, and above all else, funny. Doesn’t manage to hit bullseye but at least it made the dartboard.
