Publication Date: 08-01-2025

The Naked Gun (2025) review

Dir. Akiva Schaffer

By: Steve Pulaski

Rating: ★★★½

The Naked Gun came together so beautifully from a casting, production, and marketing standpoint that a grand slam was to be expected. In the hands of co-writer and director Akiva Schaffer, one-third of the Lonely Island and producer Seth MacFarlane, it was built on a strong foundation. Having Liam Neeson assume the role of the “new” Lt. Frank Drebin was spot-on casting, and allowing Pamela Anderson to continue her comeback tour in a supporting role was an equally fitting decision. Its runtime was eventually revealed to be 85 minutes. Exquisite.

Moreover, with the theatrical comedy about as common as honesty in politics these days, it’s somewhat serendipitous that a film this brazenly silly is now the genre’s saving grace.

Your high expectations for The Naked Gun are not only warranted but will very likely be met. About as dormant as the theatrically released comedy is also a feature-length spoof, but Schaffer and co-writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand prove that the ultra-serious, no-nonsense cop genre can still serve as fodder for uproarious sight and verbal gags.

You’ll know exactly where things stand when the opening bank robbery sequence is in factor due to a group of goons looking to steal a mighty machine known as the “P.L.O.T. Device.” Enter Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) — the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character from the previous trilogy and TV show — who has to figure out how/why an elongated muskrat billionaire’s (Danny Huston) plans for population control intersect with the death of a man, whose sister, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), becomes his begrudging partner.

Similar not only to its predecessors, but also films like Wayne’s World, The Naked Gun‘s plot is pretty much irrelevant. It’s a vehicle for jokes of all varieties; punchlines come out of a machine gun in this movie. If you didn’t care for one particular quip or visual gag, there’s another roughly 15-45 seconds away. Schaffer — whose catalog includes memorable, versatile comedies like Hot Rod and Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping — is a master of comedy, and him and his co-writers master converging the film’s serious tone with its completely unserious dialog.

The film’s success was overwhelmingly going to be contingent on Neeson’s performance, and he’s absolutely brilliant in taking over the Drebin character from an actor with a suspiciously similar name to his own. Part of Neeson’s success is not merely due to his deadpan delivery, but the fact that he is also part of the joke himself. Neeson has portrayed multiple different variations of the Frank Drebin character in films like Taken and Non-Stop, and being self-serious is part of his brand. Worth noting too: Neeson and Anderson are adorable together, and this is one of the few Hollywood relationships I care about.

If there’s one negative, it’s the film could’ve used a little bit more Paul Walter Hauser. Hauser plays a police captain, and has some of the film’s best lines (“You can’t fight City Hall. No, it’s a building.”) and is also the centerpiece of some of the funniest scenes (the introduction of the electric police vehicle). He’s always been a dynamic talent, but The Naked Gun allows his prowess as a well-meaning goof to shine.

The Naked Gun even nails the needle-drops of a couple tunes I won’t spoil. There’s even a passing reference to the original title of a major Black Eyed Peas hit you probably forgot went there. If this year in cinema should remind of us anything, between this, One of Them Days, and Friendship, it’s how damn good it feels to laugh out loud in a movie theater.

OTHER FILMS DIRECTED BY AKIVA SCHAFFER:
My review of Hot Rod
My review of The Watch (2012)
My review of Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping
My review of Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers

Starring: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and Dave Bautista. Directed by: Akiva Schaffer.