The Naked Gun (dir. Akiva Schaffer)
Certificate: 15
Running Time: 85 mins
UK Distributor: Paramount Pictures
UK Release Date: 1 August 2025
WHO’S IN THE NAKED GUN?
Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, Michael Bisping, Eddy Yu, Moses Jones
WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?
Akiva Schaffer (director, writer), Dan Gregor and Doug Mand (writers), Erica Huggins and Seth MacFarlane (producers), Lorne Balfe (composer), Brandon Trost (cinematographer), Brian Scott Olds (editor)
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) investigates a dangerous(ly hilarious) crime…
WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON THE NAKED GUN?
There’s a reason why The Naked Gun has spent most of its marketing emphasising the importance of its identity as an all-out comedy – and it’s not just because the movie itself is often hilarious. Rather, it’s because comedies of this magnitude are not being given the big-screen treatment as much as they used to, with most of them either going directly to streaming or on-demand instead of in cinemas where strangers can gather to laugh in the dark together (it’s less creepy than it reads).
So, the fact that something as unapologetically silly as The Naked Gun, from director and co-writer Akiva Schaffer, isn’t just being given a major theatrical release but also being treated like a legitimate summer blockbuster is a huge moment, one that could determine the future of comedy on the big screen as we know it. But luckily, if this hugely enjoyable joke-fest is any indication, the genre might not have anything to worry about.
A continuation of the classic comedy series, itself spun off from the short-lived TV show Police Squad! – both starring the late, great Leslie Nielsen as the hapless detective Frank Drebin – Schaffer’s film follows Drebin’s son, Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson), following in his father’s footsteps at Police Squad in Los Angeles. There, he investigates a series of crimes connected to local tech CEO Richard Cane (Danny Huston), but his nefarious plan comes second to his growing attraction to Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), who hires Drebin to investigate the death of her brother.
That’s really about it when it comes to plot, because like its predecessors The Naked Gun has one thing and one thing only on its mind: to make the audience laugh at every available opportunity. And to slightly paraphrase another classic comedy, 90% of the time it works, every time. Schaffer does a great job replicating the anything-goes comedic style of original director David Zucker, with plenty of gags going on in the background as much as the foreground, as well as quick lines of dialogue that are brief but still so noticeably wacky, all while the actors – especially the ever-gruff Liam Neeson – deliver them with as straight a face as possible. There are times when you can pick up on Schaffer’s more absurdist comedic tone from his days with The Lonely Island, particularly in one sequence involving a snowman as well as later on when an owl gets involved, but by and large the director keeps the humour consistent while making it believable that this is taking place in the same universe as the other movies.
Rarely does a scene go by without some kind of chuckle at the very least, as you’ll be laughing at the smallest of things due to how well they’re delivered or just the sheer silliness of it all. Neeson is key to it working as well as it does, with the actor more than willing to spoof his more recent action-movie persona here as he delivers perhaps the most ludicrous lines of his career with the mentality of being in a much more grounded and gritty cop thriller, which makes it funnier when you see him bite a gun in a schoolgirl outfit or suddenly rip a henchman’s arms off in mid-battle while retaining that Neeson intimidation. He also has some strong chemistry with Pamela Anderson, whose casting no longer feels like a joke in and of itself thanks to her recent career-reshaping role in The Last Showgirl, but she too is having oodles of fun playing up the stock femme fatale role that gifts her some memorable comedic moments of her own.
At 85 minutes, the film is a brisk and compact sit, but even then, there are times when you could pick out what could have been cut out. A few gags and comedic exchanges don’t land quite as well as others, including ones involving more timely references like the Black Eyed Peas and Bill Cosby, which feel more like something you’d find on Family Guy instead of The Naked Gun (funnily enough, Seth MacFarlane is a producer on the film). The villain too is pretty weak, despite Danny Huston’s attempts to liven up yet another Elon Musk/Jeff Bezos pastiche that’s becoming more and more the go-to bad guy in today’s cinematic world (though not without good reason), with an evil plot that is a straight-up copy of Samuel L. Jackson’s plan in Kingsman: The Secret Service, to a point where you’ll be waiting for that to be the joke until you realise that it’s never going to be.
Though not every joke works, which even with the best comedies is an occupational hazard, The Naked Gun has more than enough laughs for it to work as a new entry in this franchise as well as a fun comedy in its own right. But again, the importance of a film like this being given such a major theatrical push in today’s post-pandemic climate cannot be overstated, for it’s rare nowadays to get something so outwardly funny showing on the big screen that most people can enjoy together, something that has been sorely missing from cinemas for the most part. And by God, with everything going on in the world right now, we all deserve to unite as one and laugh ourselves silly at something, even if it is Liam Neeson mispronouncing the word “manslaughter” as “man’s laughter”.
“Must have been quite the joke,” Neeson deadpans in that moment. And fittingly enough, The Naked Gun is a good joke that we desperately need in our lives right now.
SO, TO SUM UP…
The Naked Gun is a hilarious continuation of the franchise that sees Liam Neeson at his funniest whilst spoofing his hard-boiled action hero persona under direction by Akiva Schaffer that lovingly mimics the anything-goes comedic style of the original films, which is more than enough to compensate for the occasional gag that falls flat.
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