Take 28: The Naked Gun (2025)
The Naked Gun (2025) pretty much picks up many years later where the series left off with some notable changes. Instead of the late Leslie Nielsen as Officer Frank Drebin, we have Liam Neeson as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. following in his father’s footsteps as cop for the Police Squad. His love in interest, Beth Davenport is played by Pamela Anderson and his partner, Captain Ed Hocken Jr., played by Paul Walter Hauser. Hijinks ensue and that’s all you really need to know.
This movie is dumb. This movie is utter nonsense. This movie is straight-up foolishness. And as a follow-up to the series, that is exactly what it should be. It opens with a bank robber. For all of maybe 90 seconds, it feels like a legit action move. Once that 90 second is up, logic and good sense are out the window. As soon as Neeson makes entrance, the laughs begin and keep coming rapid fire. His entrance is so ridiculous, you can’t help but laugh. It really does set the stage and reveal that tone that will dictate the next 90 minutes. If you can’t get behind in you are in for a long (well, as one as a 90 minute movie is) haul.
There are tons of callbacks and gags that you will recognize from the original series as well as some new things. You differently don’t have to have seen the old ones to get jokes, but it was nice to make the connections. It’s far from rocket science though, so even if you had see the originals (or just haven’t rewatched in a REALLY long time like I hadn’t), you’ll be fine.
The casting is great. As someone who really mostly knows Liam Neeson from the Taken movies and a few other things where he is full-on tough guy, it was nice to see him play a complete different character and he is really good at the humor. Pamela Anderson looks fantastic here and is bringing the funny. This is definitely a good showcase for them both and will hopefully open up more non-traditional roles for them going forward.
I laughed, a lot. But that’s not to say it was perfect. Although it IS only 90 minutes and some change, it teetered on the verge of being a little predictable. You could see a lot of the jokes coming from a mile away. But that is always the case with movies like that. It’s comforting to watch the setup and get to the punchline waaaaaay before the character does. There is also plenty of new material. And the rewatch potential for this one is high because there are plenty of subtle things you just can’t get all off because of high joke density.
My score: 8. It doesn’t set the world on fire, but it does exactly what it sets out to do and that’s to just make you laugh.
No, give me The Naked Truth about The Naked Gun by leaving your takes in the comments section. It’s starting to feel like I’m yelling into a wind tunnel so sound off. And until next time.
