The Naked Gun

 

“Who are you?

Frank Drebin, Police Squad.

The new version.”

Hilarious, dry and dumb {complimentary}, The Naked Gun is just as gag-filled and gloriously silly as the original comedy classic with constant slapstick malarkey that will leave you grinning ear to ear and laughing out loud for its entire ridiculous runtime. 

Discussion Points:

There’s a genuine intellectual craft that goes into making a film that is this delightfully dumb and self-awarely silly with constant visual gags, dry puns and slapstick stunts. Liam Neeson is a fantastic successor to the Frank Drebin mantle, and he does his father proud as a no-nonsense all nonsense cop whose self-serious slapstick sincerity sells every magnificent piece of malarkey. His awkwardly adorkable romance with Pamela Anderson’s Beth Devonport provides ample comedic fodder from snowy cabin snowman seduction to jazz club show stopping scatting. Akiva Schaffer is easily the right choice to adapt the Police Squad antics for a modern audience, retaining much of the originals endearing idiocy whilst introducing some more contemporary comedic content. It’s so refreshing to have a studio comedy that an entire audience will be laughing at with a constant barrage of jokes and setups that all pay off and land right thought to the hilarious credits. I laughed so hard, and so often, that my cheeks genuinely hurt by the end because I’d been wearing a smile from ear to ear the entire runtime!