During an early scene in “The Naked Gun,” Frank Debrin Jr. (Liam Neeson) is kneeling in front of a photo of his father, Frank Debrin Sr. (Leslie Nielsen, of the original 1988 film), asking for guidance.
“I want to be just like you,” he says. “But original! And completely different!”
Neeson might as well be speaking for the movie itself, or any of the plethora of remakes and reboots that have filled movie theaters this century. Directed by Akiva Schaffer, “The Naked Gun” clearly outlines the gold standard these remakes are aiming for, but hardly ever reach – capturing the spirit of the original, but still standing on their own merit.
I’m delighted to say, “The Naked Gun” nails that balance. It’s the funniest big studio comedy release to come along in years, playing in a similar sandbox to the Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker films of yore, but in a new context with new toys.
Like his father before him, Frank Jr. works for Police Squad. Unlike his father, he faces a department on the brink of failure, haunted by his father’s sterling reputation (much like, of course, how this spoof of a spoof is haunted by the spoof it’s spoofing). While investigating the death of a man who was found behind the wheel of an electric car, Frank is turned onto the maker of said car – the wealthy, irreverent, and not at all Elon Musk-adjacent Richard Crane (Danny Huston). Along with the help of the victim’s sister, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), Frank Jr. is on the case.
“The Naked Gun” franchise is the perfect example of a genre that has been all but lost to time – the “smart dumb movie.” The new entry has all the hallmarks of the old, a loving spoof of noir and crime films (Anderson delivers a pitch perfect comedic performance in this vein) that is packed to the gills with jokes (actual jokes in a comedy – who would have thought?).
The first thing we see in “The Naked Gun” is a goon (Kevin Durand) busting into a bank and stealing something called the Primordial Law of Toughness device – AKA, the P.L.O.T. device – from a safety deposit box. From there it’s off to the races, barely a second passing by without some sight gag, some pun, some slapstick bit of humor. The wordplay, in particular, is something severely lacking from modern comedy – at one point, Frank Jr. says to his captain, Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser), “I guess you can’t fight City Hall.” Hocken, deadpan, responds: “No, it’s a building.” Simple, and kind of stupid, but endlessly satisfying when delivered well.
In the starring role, Neeson brings something darker than Leslie Nielsen’s open guilelessness. He’s a bit scarier, and the filmmakers use that to their advantage. In a scene that starts out as an homage to a moment of bribery in the 1988 film, Frank Jr. doesn’t pay for information like his father, choosing instead to repeatedly bang the source’s face on a bar. His deadpan delivery, so similar to what he does in “Taken,” is used to great effect, whether he’s talking about “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or complaining about cops having to follow the law (“The Naked Gun” is probably not the space in which to deeply consider police brutality or corruption, but the film certainly takes jabs here and there).
Bringing on Schaffer, the ultimate parody guy (he is a member of The Lonely Island and made 2016’s “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping”), was a smart decision, especially considering that at its essence, “The Naked Gun” is a parody of a parody. That can be a precarious genre position to be in, but Schaffer (who also wrote the film with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand) has never been afraid of the absurd, evidenced by an extended Frosty the Snowman sequence that has absolutely nothing to do with anything; it’s just funny.
Fearless is a strong word – and I’d hate to use it too liberally while talking about a studio remake – but there is a certain lack of daring in studio comedy today that’s absent here. These filmmakers trust their sensibilities and their instincts, and that lack of trepidation is evident.