The Naked Gun, one of the funniest film series ever, gets a reboot helmed by Akiva Schaffer, member of the Lonely Island, and director of the hilarious and criminally underrated Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.
Schaffer, who also directed 11 episodes of the very funny series I Think You Should Leave With Tim Robinson, certainly has the chops to give the classic deadpan humor of The Naked Gun series a try. Sadly, it’s a near-miss.
Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson try to do what Leslie Nielsen and Priscilla Presley did so effortlessly more than three decades ago. The result is a mixed bag at best; the jokes that land get a decent giggle, but the groaners outweigh the good ones.
I got a kick out of a sequence in which Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) presents his body-cam footage, unedited. Anderson takes a pretty outrageous stab at jazz singing that amuses.
Unfortunately, I spent a lot of time sitting in bored silence. There are too many sequences in which Schaffer and his team milk the living hell out of gags. There are also too many moments when the art of deadpan is lost in favor of some sort of comedic/dramatic realism. There were times when I started to laugh, but then recoiled when the gag got beaten to death.
The filmmakers erred in following the original Naked Gun template too closely. Nielsen, a dramatic actor who moved to comedy with Airplane and the Naked Gun series, was a DEADPAN MASTER, and rocked every scenario handed to him. Neeson, however, seems to be straining too often. A comedic actor with dramatic chops—like Michael Keaton, Will Ferrell or even Lonely Island vet Andy Samberg—might’ve fared better in the role.
Expecting what happened with Nielsen to be repeated with Neeson was too big of an ask. I admire the attempt here, and Neeson was even a little funnier than I expected—but he’s miscast as the lead in a comedy franchise like this one.
1. The role (just like Airplane) was DESIGNED for a dramatic actor. Both movies would have suffered of a comic actor did them.
Part of the point of the movie is to make the viewers feel like they are seeing a serious movie that devolves into chaos as it goes. Most of the casts played both movies straight–the humor was the audience realized that characters really don’t see what’s happening around them as funny, so they played them as perfectly serious.
If a Keaton, Williams, etc. played, they would automatically go funny. (Only, probably Bob Newhart MIGHT have pulled it off).
LUCKILY, the movie’s success relies on THE AUDIENCE liking it, not the critics. The only Movie Reviewers I really liked was the late, Legendary Siskel and Ebert. Even when I disagreed, I liked them–every other critic, even YOU, are a poor substitute (see what I did there? How did it feel?) I and other fans gave Star Trek 2009 a chance, and Chris Pine did what we thought was impossible, play Kirk BETTER than Shatner. And. Strange New Worlds Paul Wesley is up there also. Sometimes an iconic actor’s performance CAN BE duplicated or Improved (that is what Hollywood has devolved to–AND prequels and sequels)