The Naked Gun (15)

The Drebin family continues to uphold the law with an unconventional approach to investigative work. Police Squad's lead detective, Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr, is proud to follow in the footsteps of his father and protect the good people of the world from the many faces of crime. Leveraging his unique set of skills, Frank meets bullets with buffoonery and completes his missions with a panache that catches the eye of the beautiful Beth.

LondonNet Film Review

The Naked Gun (15) Film Review from LondonNet

Some of the best gags in director Akiva Schaffer’s reboot of the rip-roaring comedy franchise are not in the film. These choice nuggets are covertly nestled in the end credits, rewarding eagle-eyed observation for those who stay in their seats when most of the audience are filing out of the cinema. Visual gags have always been a chief pleasure of the filthy-minded and gleefully dim-witted Naked Gun series and Schaffer and co-writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand milk a steady flow of chuckles from Easter eggs (a stuffed animal as restaurant decor) and elaborate set pieces (infrared images mistakenly suggest a couple is engaged in enthusiastic and acrobatic coitus). A ridiculous running gag with takeaway coffee cups stays piping hot for 85 minutes…

Admittedly, the original 1988 version of The Naked Gun starring Leslie Nielsen shoehorned twice as many laughs into the same trim running time. However, the script here still hits several home runs with puns and malapropisms. A throwaway one-liner about university is deeply satisfying for its simplicity and the droll voiceover achieves the sublime when it compliments one character’s pert posterior as “a bottom that would make any toilet beg for the brown”.

OJ Simpson, who played Frank Drebin’s bumbling partner in earlier films, is a sitting duck for a jibe. Some chaotic clownery doesn’t land – a prolonged interlude soundtracked by Starship’s Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now left me almost as cold as the snowman that threatens to come between lovebirds during a wintry getaway.

Police Squad detective Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr (Liam Neeson) is proud to follow in the footsteps of his father and protect the people of Los Angeles from the many rubbery faces of crime. Accompanied by partner Ed Hocken Jr (Paul Walter Hauser), Frank leaves chaos in his wake to the despair of long-suffering boss Chief Davis (CCH Pounder).

Bank thieves escape with the contents of a safety deposit box belonging to Simon Davenport, who is subsequently found dead behind the wheel of an electric car manufactured by charismatic magnate Richard Cane (Danny Huston). The deceased’s vampy sister, Beth (Pamela Anderson), implores Frank to unmask her brother’s killers and the smitten detective meets bullets with buffoonery to incur the wrath of Cane’s trusted lieutenant, Sig Gustafson (Kevin Durand).

The Naked Gun is a delightfully dippy comedy of deliberate errors that exceeds expectations but falls short of the delirious, gut-busting original. Neeson’s chip off the Drebin family block possesses the same delightful cluelessness as his old man with literal misunderstandings but lacks the effortlessness naivete of Nielsen’s lawman. Anderson embraces her slinky femme fatale with gusto and is unafraid to poke fun at herself. Punchlines that hit intended targets exceed the misses. Schaffer’s picture slips on the fluffy handcuffs and is arresting for the right reasons.

– Jo Planter