THE NAKED GUN film franchise first hit theaters in 1988, a spin-off of the short-lived POLICE SQUAD! television series. Both the show and movies were the product of The Zucker Brothers (AIRPLANE!), and featured their trademark sense of humor leaning heavily into sight gags and satire. Leslie Neilsen starred in the lead, and made the proceedings very funny by playing it straight, no matter how outrageous the moments on screen would become. Now, thanks to producer Seth McFarlane (FAMILY GUY) and director Akiva Schaffer (POPSTAR: NEVER STOP STOPPING), we have a new version of THE NAKED GUN with Liam Neeson taking the lead, playing the son of Lt. Frank Drebin naked Frank Drebin Jr. …that should help make the transition easy.

Opening with an intense bank robbery, the new film quickly shows Drebin’s outrageous and reckless way of taking down criminals, even though their target is successfully stolen from a safe deposit box. The device (literally called “Plot Device” here) falls into the hands of a tech CEO named Richard Cane (Danny Huston), who plans to use it for destroying the working class citizens so his billionaire buddies can restart a utopia on Earth – yes, this is very much a joke on the Elon Musks of the world. Drebin is facing the wrath of Chief Davis (CCH Pounder) for his careless behavior, while his fellow detective buddy Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser) tries to back him up. Frank eventually meets a seductive woman named Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), who wants justice for her murdered brother, and this sends Frank into pursuit of Cane’s true agenda, and into an unlikely romance.

This new take on THE NAKED GUN is fun to watch and at times quite funny, and the casting of Liam Neeson is inspired and actually works rather well. He doesn’t quite have the timing or charm of Leslie Neilsen, but the jokes work more often than not, regardless. And Pamela Anderson is another great choice here as the smitten woman hoping Frank can solve the case. The absolute best part of the film is the chemistry between Neeson and Anderson, which feels natural and real, while still being quite amusing. This is made more charming by the apparent real life romance that has blossomed between the two actors since filming the movie. Danny Huston is serviceable as the story’s villain, but I felt like he could have played his role a little more sinister and heavy. Paul Walter Hauser steps into the shoes George Kennedy occupied in the original films, but is sadly given little to do here, and seems like an unnecessary character in the shadow of CCH Pounder’s Police Chief character. This is very much Neeson’s film, and some of the other cast members are underwritten as a result, which could explain the short 85-minute run time… it’s possible some characters in the film suffered in the editing process, or were just truncated for time.

I enjoyed this new take on the popular comedy franchise, but there were certain aspects that I found disappointing, such as the absence of the POV police car intro (and title theme) that is a trademark of the original films, and really set the tone for hearty laughter while watching the movie. That’s gone here, replaced by a very generic and somewhat bland title card. I honestly can’t understand why the filmmakers didn’t recreate their own version of those classic intros, it’s a big missed opportunity. There are snippets of it during the end credits, but they literally just sampled some of the original openings instead of doing anything new. I also missed the Ira Newborn musical themes from the original movies, though Lorne Balfe does at times recreate hints of the original score. There are also portions of the film that straight up sample some of Newborn’s music from the other movies, but I wished there was more of it used – that music was such a big part of those original films, and it could have made this new one feel more in sync had it been more prominently featured.

The jokes in this new version are similar to the original tone, but thankfully don’t feel lazy or copied directly from what we’ve already seen. The biggest difference is the pacing of the humor, as the new film gives heavy beats between gags, while the original movies were rather relentless with their jokes. This may have been intentional, as Neeson is simply a different performer than Neilsen, and rapid fire humor may not have landed the same way. There’s also something about the film that feels (I hate to say it) a little cheap, like it was shot in a very cost effective way, mostly on sound stages, where the original NAKED GUN movies weren’t afraid to go on location to sell a gag. Outside of the big budget-looking bank robbery opening, the rest of the film looks and feels almost like a made-for-TV movie.

THE NAKED GUN isn’t as effectively funny and endearing as the classic movies, but it is fun to watch and seemed to entertain our audience. When I saw the original movies, I couldn’t wait to watch them again, especially since I felt like there were jokes I missed from laughing so hard. I don’t have that desire with this new one. I enjoyed it for what it was, but it’s not a terribly memorable production. If you liked the original trilogy, you’ll likely appreciate the effort, even if it proves you can’t improve on perfection. Be sure to stick around until the end of the credits for a fun payoff joke.

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