Well, shit.
For those just tuning in, I finally checked out the original Naked Gun trilogy a while back. It was a convenient opportunity to relitigate my problems with Akiva Schaffer, most especially with regards to the crime against humanity that was Chip ‘n’ Dale (2022). More to the point, I wanted to write about why the first three movies still hold up superbly well and I had little hope that any modern filmmaker could hope to match its legacy.
Cinematic parodies are a lost art. Pop culture moves so quickly nowadays, it takes the speed and flexibility of a YouTube channel — or at least a late night comedy TV show — to try and keep pace with what’s relevant and funny. A significant chunk of what made Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker such comedic geniuses was their uncanny ability to pick targets that would remain funny and relevant over thirty years later (that one borderline transphobic joke in the third film notwithstanding).
It certainly didn’t bode well that The Naked Gun (2025) was quite pointedly getting made without the original three creators. Moreover, Hollywood movies nowadays — most especially comedies — tend to be highly fluid in the production phase, getting made on a wing and a prayer of getting salvaged in post. That approach was never going to work for this franchise. The script has to be rock-solid or the dizzying wordplay won’t function. The props, sets, practical effects, and comic timing all have to be immaculately flawless or the sight gags won’t work.
Perhaps more importantly, this is a series that directly lampooned politicians of the day and delivered razor-sharp satire of police brutality (a good three years before Rodney King, I might add). I wasn’t holding my breath for any mainstream film — least of all a film from that goddamn disgrace Akiva Schaffer — to deliver any such hard-hitting satire.
That was pretty much the gist of my earlier entry. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of writing it before the full trailer for The Naked Gun (2025) came out.
I don’t know how it could’ve possibly happened, but the trailer got it right. Every single joke in the trailer is whip-smart, with sight gags and satirical remarks that would’ve fit right at home in the original trilogy. Over the past few months, I’ve been voraciously consuming every commercial and promo clip I could get my hands on, and every single one got me laughing.
I got hyped for a movie. That was not supposed to happen. Not after all the times I’ve been gravely disappointed by movies I was hotly anticipating. And how the nine hells could I get this hyped up for a comedy from the writer/director of the goddamn Chip ‘n’ Dale remakequel? How could these two movies be made by the same fuckers?!
Well, it turns out that Akiva Schaffer of the Lonely Island and exec producer Seth McFarlane of the “Family Guy” cutaway gags both have a gift for the curveball comedic segue. They’re both masters of jokes and references that make no sense in the context of the plot, but slot right into the context of the joke. Most of the time, that sensibility works surprisingly well with the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker stylings we all know and love. Other times, not so much.
There’s a chili dog sequence that goes on for way too long and contributes nothing. We get an entire set piece about a snowman coming to life, what the fuck was that about? The Black-Eyed Peas get referenced for whatever stupid reason. But even when the jokes make no sense whatsover, they’re still funny.
The wordplay is razor-sharp. The prop jokes and sight gags are immaculate. The running gags get funnier with each repetition. We don’t get any specific politicians named or roasted this time, but the film has some diabolical zingers about police brutality and racial profiling. The filmmakers make it perfectly clear, loud and early, that they’re not here to tell a coherent or trackable story, they’re here to make us laugh our asses off. And from start to finish, right on through to the post-credits stinger to the very last frame, I was laughing.
That said, there’s no denying that even at 90 minutes, the film is padded with jokes to cover the pathetically thin plot. The main villain (Richard Cane, played by Danny Huston) is a deranged tech billionaire Elon Musk parody like we’ve already seen in a hundred other movies by now. And without getting too deep into spoilers, his big plan for world-domination is an exact carbon copy of the big evil plot from Kingsman: The Secret Service. Hell, Cane even has the same motivation, more or less.
Even in the three original movies, the plot didn’t take so many useless detours and the stakes were always portrayed with more heft. In place of that, we get a token bit of thematic rumination about how our villain is a delusional CEO and our hero is a trigger-happy cop. In other words, we’ve got two men who represent different facets of the masculine ideal so idolized by modern conservatives.
And before you go thinking that the filmmakers are biased in favor of the hero, it bears remembering that Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) is repeatedly shown to be a laughably shitty cop. As with the original series protagonist, Junior is an oblivious blowhard so focused on punishing criminals that he’s willfully ignorant of all the collateral damage, broken laws, violated civil rights, and innocent casualties (mostly BIPOC, by his own admission) that he’s responsible for along the way. Though it makes a difference that Richard is the CEO and master of his own plans, while Frank is shown to be a product of a broken system that he has no real control over. And Frank — unlike Richard — is shown to make some slight progress in outgrowing his old ways and becoming slightly less of an asshole, so there’s that.
As with the original trilogy, so much of what powers this comedy is a cast that can play all the jokes totally straight. Of course Liam Neeson has long since proven that he could make a freaking crossword puzzle sound like high drama, and Danny Huston is a seasoned actor who can match that intensity. (Remember when they were Zeus and Poseidon for that crappy CGI franchise nobody talks about anymore?) But who in the nine hells could’ve expected Pamela fucking Anderson to be in the same class as those two?!
Elsewhere, we’ve got Paul Walter Hauser picking up from George Kennedy, every bit as capable playing a straight foil for Drebin. Kevin Durand makes good use of his established talent, perfectly riding the line between funny and scary (see also: Abigail). CCH Pounder gets some good laughs as the hardass Police Squad chief. Busta Rhymes only shows up for one scene, but damned if he didn’t steal it.
I’m happy to report that Weird Al Yankovic keeps the streak going and makes a prominent cameo appearance for the fourth time in a row. We even get a blink-and-you’ll-miss-her cameo from Priscilla Presley herself.
(Side note: I don’t care what the filmmakers say, and I know that internal consistency means fuck-all in this movie, but I’m standing by my headcanon that Drebin Jr. is the son of Frank Drebin from his failed first marriage. It’s the only plausible way Junior could be older than 40, and I didn’t see anything in the film to contradict that assessment.)
Alas, the traditional opening car sequence has been stuck to the end credits, and it’s comprised of opening credits scenes from the original trilogy. Lame. However, I’m happy to report that the filmmakers kept the tradition of scattering joke credits all throughout the ending credits. The fake eye chart was my favorite.
Nobody’s going to mistake The Naked Gun (2025) for coherent storytelling or high cinema, but that was never in the cards for this picture. Honestly, it’s miracle enough that the filmmakers were this successful in matching the tone and quality of the humor in the original trilogy. I might add that the film works perfectly well as an indictment of how far we haven’t come, if the franchise’s observations about copaganda entertainment and real-life police brutality are as relevant now as they were back in 1988.
In summary, what we’ve got here are 90 solid minutes of laugh-out-loud fun. You won’t lose anything if you wait for home video — in fact, it might be worth waiting for home video just so you can go back and catch the jokes you were laughing too hard to spot the first time around. At any rate, this is definitely worth checking out.
Congratulations, Akiva Schaffer, you’ve redeemed yourself. Don’t let it happen again.