What Akiva Schaffer’s reboot/sequel/loving tone poem “The Naked Gun” (2025) does so well is, frankly, something that I wasn’t sure could still be done: it makes an audience laugh a lot. That’s it. That’s the sales pitch and the reason to lay down your cold, hard cash at the counter. “The Naked Gun” (2025) is a silly film with enough jokes per minute to power a space shuttle launch, or at least a very detailed replica model. It’s not the quality of the jokes that matters, although there are a couple of deeply memorable ones. It is not the quality of the performances that sends this over the hump, although everyone is leaning into the absurdity with aplomb. It is the sheer rat-a-tat, high-volume onslaught of joke after joke after joke that makes “The Naked Gun” (2025) a more than worthy successor of Leslie Nielsen’s titanic comedic legacy and makes one hope this is not the last time we see Frank Drebin Jr. of Police Squad farting his way across movie screens.
The plot doesn’t matter but for the sake of brevity, “The Naked Gun” (2025) follows the exploits of Police Squad, an elite fighting force of the LAPD led by the bumbling Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson), son of Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin Sr. of the original “Naked Gun” films from the ’80s and ’90s. Several of my friends asked if they needed to watch the original films before going into this one. You do not, although they are some of the funniest movies ever made. There are no legacy sequel peccadilloes to belabor the audience with here, other than an excellent O.J. Simpson joke. Frank is a “good cop” who leads a hard-nosed life in a Groucho-nosed reality. A murder investigation into the death of a tech bro leads Frank to investigate the shady goings on of a Tesla-like multinational, world domination enterprise while becoming entranced by the dead man’s sultry blonde bombshell of a sister (Pamela Anderson). That’s the set-up. Now, kindly allow antics to ensue.
Having recently rewatched the original “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” (1988), there is a particular tenor of joke that “The Naked Gun” (2025) somehow is able to match, an almost call-and-response rhythm where both the movie and the audience are collaborating to build a laugh in tandem. For example, in the original film, there is a scene where Nielsen is meeting with the dastardly Ricardo Montalbán, who is planning to use Manchurian Candidate-style mind control to kill the Queen of England at a California Angels baseball game. (It’s hilarious, trust me.) Offering a friendly cigar, Montalbon asks, “Cuban?”. To which Nielsen replies, “Dutch-Irish, actually.” That’s the entire movie. A cinematic speed bag peppering the audience relentlessly with clever word play, unnecessary explosions, and the highest quality of low-brow toilet humor money can buy. “The Naked Gun” (2025) somehow is able to parrot this joke style with an impressive consistency, setting up gags that have the audience laughing before the punch line is even delivered. It’s often said that horror and comedy are quite similar, as building a scare and a laugh share the same kind of tension and release formula. If you have an audience scared before the monster even shows up, you’re doing something right. If you have the audience laughing amongst themselves before the joke even lands, you’re doing something extraordinary. For that, if only that, “The Naked Gun” (2025) is a borderline triumph.
If there were ever an actor with the acting chops and goofball temperament to take up the deadpan comedy mantle from Leslie Nielsen, it is the similarly named Liam Neeson. Long known as one of the finest, most austere actors of his generation, Neeson doubles down on his action star smolder and allows himself to become the butt of several thousand jokes, playing each pratfall, goofy face, or flatulent aside as straight as Shakespeare. Also game for this nonsense is Pamela Anderson. The former “Baywatch” star and forever sex symbol, Anderson matches Neeson’s shameless commitment to each joke with an earnest, doe-eyed intensity; gleefully inhabiting the role of a sultry femme fatale with the looks of Jessica Rabbit and the comedic timing of Roger. Director Akiva Schaffer (“The Lonely Island,” “Pop Star: Never Stop Never Stopping”) is more than happy to give Neeson and Anderson the space they need to make sweet, silly music together while pumping enough sight gags and double entendres throughout to keep audiences rolling from one laugh to another. It’s just a real fun time.
“The Naked Gun” films are rollicking events that can, and should, be shared with families. The number of great comedic minds for whom “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!” (1988) is Er text are legion, not because the film has some grand statement to be made about the state of policing in America, but because Leslie Nielsen has a hilarious “I just got punched” face and everybody can agree on that. I certainly love comedy that probes the inner reaches of our psyche, that punches up at destructive institutions, and plants a fat middle finger into the nose of fascists. I wondered what a modern “Naked Gun” film might have to say about the state of policing in 2025. Would it aspire to anything deeper than a kiddie pool concerning police brutality or militarization? Should it? However, after walking out of the theater an hour and twenty-five minutes later, having spent almost every minute of that time laughing with a rowdy crowd of people, I realized how ridiculous I was being. This is a “Naked Gun” movie. It has no agenda, no higher calling than that of being what it is: a fun time at the movies, a laugh machine that tickles funny bones on a consistent loop, and gives folks a place to forget about the malignancy of modernity. And I think there’s something beautiful about that.
“The Naked Gun” (2025) won’t change the world, but it could certainly brighten your day. See it with as many people as possible and give yourself over to its silly, stupid seduction.
You’ll be glad you did.
“The Naked Gun” (2025) is playing at The Prytania Theatre at Canal Place.
