The Naked Gun

Grade: B

The Naked Gun is one of those movies that is critic-proof. I can tell you I liked it. It’s everything I would want from a Naked Gun movie. The team behind it (all new blood) kept the comedic style/integrity, and have done the series proud. Otherwise, what can we talk about? I could list my favorite jokes, but they might not be yours, and they are best left discovered on your own. One of my top ones (the O.J. Simpson reference) is in the trailer, and it’s great.

By all appearances, this takes place in the present day. The film sticks to timeless jokes; wisely, it refrains from including current pop culture references, because those will be dated before we know it. Most of the time, the original films stuck to this pattern, which is part of why they still hold up now. We can forgive The Naked Gun 2 1/2 for the send-up of the pottery scene from Ghost, as Ghost’s director, Jerry Zucker, is part of the Airplane/Naked Gun creator team.

Police Squad is still going strong, and the sons of the characters previously played by Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy are at the forefront. They are Frank Drebin Jr (Liam Neeson) and Ed Hocken Jr (Paul Walter Hauser). Neeson is perfect for the role, as Nielsen was. Both understand the deadpanness needed. The point gets driven home even more in a bit where we all of a sudden see another actor – a well-known one – cameoing as Frank Jr. Then we hear a toilet flush, and Neeson returns, saying “Thanks for covering for me.” It’s a glimpse of how much worse this could have been if this actor (as much as I admire him) or so many others had played Frank Jr instead.

Pamela Anderson does the honors as the femme fatale and eventual love interest for Frank. She is very funny in a scene at a club where she has to distract the villain, so she jumps up on stage and does the most manic improv jazz scatting I’ve ever heard. Whenever there is a serious, sweet moment, we assume it’s a setup (it probably is), and we are waiting for the punchline shoe to drop. I haven’t said a thing about the plot, because it doesn’t matter – and it’s a relief to not be devoting a paragraph to it. If you don’t care for one particular joke here and there, don’t worry. There are more coming right up. At 85 minutes, it sticks to the “hour and a half or under” template set by 1988’s Naked Gun and its sequels (2 1/2 and 33 1/3). Bottom line: The Naked Gun (2025) does its job, and if you’re a fan, you will have a great time. The original writing/directing team was not involved in the creation, but the transition into reboot territory is so seamless, you’d think they were.

Grade: B