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Despite appearances, the new Naked Gun film is not a remake or a reboot of the
original "Naked Gun" series. It is, in fact, a loose sequel to the last film in
the Naked Gun series: "Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult", which was released
thirty two years ago way back in 1993. Despite having a new creative team on
both sided of the camera and a the literal generational gap between Part Three
and Four in the series, this installment fits almost seamlessly into the old
series and manages to retain both the same strengths and weaknesses.
I would almost say it equals the old films, except that this time around
everything seems understandably slightly less fresh. The big question hanging
over the film is: who is the audience for this film? Many seniors are going to
the movie theatres less. Even Clint Eastwood lost most of his audience,
although his work, including his recent sparsely attended Cry Macho (2021) and
Juror 2 (which was barely released), continues to be excellent. I do not see the
new generation lining up in large numbers for a late middle aged Liam Neeson and
Pamela Anderson vehicle, which is a sequel to a nineties film which they may or
may not be familiar with on streaming.
The original Naked Gun series was made by a trio of comedy geniuses: Jim Abrams,
and brothers David and Jerry Zucker. They started out writing the raw and
raunchy Kentucky Fried Movie (1977) and from there went on to write/produced
non-stop comedy classics including: Airplane (80), Ruthless People (86), and of
course the cult classic short lived Police Squad TV show (82). The original
Naked Gun movie series was based off this very short lived TV series which was
itself a parody of the Lee Marvin late 50's M Squad hard nosed detective TV
series. For the big screen it was re-christened "The Naked Gun From the Files of
Police Squad" (88). So successful it spawned two sequels: "Naked Gun 2½ The
Smell of Fear" (91), and "Naked Gun 33 1/3 The Final Insult" (94). While the
trio is absent from this film (rumor says that Abrahams and the brothers did not
love the new film). They are replaced as Executive Producers by another
heavyweight comedy creator: Seth McFarlane. Best known for producing, writing
and starring in Family Guy animated series and The Orville (2017-2022),
McFarlane’s work here as EP shows he does understand the mechanics of how the
movie series worked and he guides that translation that well here. His style of
comedy doesn't copy the original but it does comfortably rhyme with it. He keeps
the film consistently humorous and engaging, in much the same way his Family Guy
series has stayed watchable for decades. The film was directed by the
comparatively inexperienced Akiva Schaffer, who previously made videos for
Saturday Night Live.
The Naked Gun explores the continuing adventures of Fred Drebin Jr., son of
Frank Drebin, and just as buffoonish and clueless as his dad. He is
partnered with Captain Ed Hocken Jr, also the son of his dad’s old long
suffering partner, who is as eternally loyal to Fred as his dad was to Frank.
The filmmakers wisely decide not to portray the son of O.J.'s character (Norquist)
very much and his appearances amount to a cameo. That said there is a pretty
funny gag about that. All of which sounds uncreative, but the unlikeliness of
the scenario actually makes it all the more fun. The new film, unsurprisingly,
spends lots of time poking fun at police procedural dramas and neo-noirs. There
are jokes about a suspected criminal who smokes in public buildings, and Drebin
is dating a female suspect who writes murder mysteries, which obviously parodies
Basic Instinct. And like the original Drebin is the spiritual brother to the
Pink Panther's Inspector Clouseau,
this son of Drebin is also unaware that his
incompetence and clumsiness causing chaos around him everywhere he goes. Like
father like son.
The film begins with Drebin mourning the death of his ex-wife Jane Spencer, who
was played by Priscilla Presley, who is also greatly missed. He throws himself
into his work to forget and starts investigating a case that seems to be a
clear-cut suicide. The only catch is that the victim’s sister, Beth (Pamela
Andresen), keeps insisting that her brother was murdered. Drebin almost
immediately clicks with Beth and experiences romantic chemistry with her. The
couple partially hit it off because of their unlikely shared love of the Black
Eyed Peas rap group. But does Beth truly care for him, or did she simply seduce
him (like Cathrine Tremor in Basic Instinct) to deflect him in the case because
she killed her own brother? Also, what is the role of the sinister
industrialist?
The film’s pop cultural in-jokes are plentiful, but they do not refer to current
shows or songs. The couple has a major argument because Beth accidentally
erases Frank’s episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This causes him to yell in
frustration, “No more Willow, no more Xander, no more Oz.” Moreover, he timeline
of the goofy film does not make sense at all. This film is shot as if it were an
eighties cop show, yet the jokes mention ‘90s and 2000s shows, music and
cultural touchstones. Also, the story makes comedy grist out of recent modern
technology, like AI and driverless cars. In the most astonishing and
unexpected scene, the couple stumbles upon a book of black magic. This leads
them to give life to an inanimate snowman who soon joins them in a threesome.
This silly but amusing scene that should not have worked at all works
surprisingly well, and it probably could not have happened in any other film.
Like the previous films in the series, this one also manages to once again
involve rock satirist, Weird Al Yankovic. A person announces that after the
world has ended, the best entertainers will perform in front of the survivors in
bunkers, and then we see a shot of ‘Weird Al' who would probably not be
most people’s first choice for a post apocalyptic performer.
Some of the film's best jokes exploit the series original trope of incongruity
between what a word means to most people in conversation and its literal
meaning. When Drebin tells a female murder suspect to, "Take take a seat?". She
replies, "No thanks, I already have one at home." But later she says when
leaving: "I changed my mind" as she drags out a chair, disrupting the whole
police station. Don't call me Shirley indeed.
The biggest aspect I miss in the new film is Leslie Neilson, who was simply
brilliant in the original series. Neilson gave lots of stoic, overly serious
performances as heroic characters in films from "Forbidden Planet in the fifties
to the "Poseidon Adventure" in the seventies. But his hyper-heroic performances
and exaggerated vocal style became so dated that he was perfect for period
comedies like "Airplane" and the "Naked Gun" series. He deserves an award just
by saying some of his old lines with a straight face. His role is more than
adequately filled here by Liam Neeson ("Schindler’s List" and "Silence" ). He
evokes Neilson without copying him.
The film is not very original or groundbreaking but as a seamless continuation
of the original comedy series over thirty years old it really shouldn't be.
What's important here is that a large majority of the jokes totally hit their
targets, and much of the film is hilarious. Even the duds are kind of funny. It
contains the same kind of sight gags, wordplay, non sequiturs, and instances of
breaking the fourth wall as the original films. Although the film will probably
not make nearly as much money, it is about ten times as funny as the
current Adam Sandler Netflix sequel: Happy Gilmour 2.
While not quite as hilarious as the previous Naked Gun films, it comes close
enough. It lacks the extreme highs of previous films, like the first films great
baseball game scenes and the failed murder attempt of the queen. But it does
contain many humorous sequences, outrageous, well-executed physical comedy,
and tons of snappy dialogue. This film might age well because it is less
dependent on current jokes than usual for this type of film. I have probably not
laughed this much in a film since
Deadpool & Wolverine.
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