My relationship with the original Abrams/Zucker Brothers "Naked Gun" movies has never been great. I saw bits and pieces of them many times over the years, but mostly at an age where I didn't get most of the jokes. I always thought of them as very raunchy movies for adults, probably because they were the only comedies I saw broadcast on television that got away with a certain level of sexual innuendo. What I found more interesting was that these movies, along with the Mel Brooks comedies and other parody films, all took place in this absurd cartoon universe where the rules of reality didn't apply. You could have wild, elaborate sight gags where luggage came alive, a squad car could drive through anything, and you combed the desert with literal combs.
This kind of humor has fallen out of favor as the parody film has lost popularity. I think the "Austin Powers" movies were the last to really do this joke-a-minute, off the wall style well. So it was a nice surprise to see so many of the old gags and goofs and cartoon props used extensively in the new "The Naked Gun," where Liam Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen's character from the original films. A giant claw machine claw is used to pluck a crashed car out of a river. There's a running gag where officers in the police station keep being handed larger and larger cups of coffee. Drebin makes his first appearance in disguise as a pint-sized schoolgirl, and then proceeds to foil a bank robbery by beating up all the criminals while wearing the schoolgirl outfit. All the humor is extremely silly, with a lot of puns, a lot of ridiculous sight gags, and a lot of Liam Neeson keeping a stony expression while doing wacky things.
I went back and watched a few of the other Abrams/Zucker Brothers films, including the original "The Naked Gun," and was pleasantly surprised to find that they were all like that. Some of the jokes have aged badly, but on the whole these older parody films are much more lighthearted and cartoonish than I remember. The humor is all very juvenile, "MAD Magazine" level naughtiness, but very earnestly so. The reboot manages to capture and update that sensibility just about right. You've got the return of the "this looks like people having sex, but it's something totally innocent" sequence. You've got the extremely stupid acronyms. Weird Al and Priscilla Presley have cameos. There's an extended bit with a demonically possessed snowman. At the same time, you can tell this is the work of Akiva Schaffer and the Lonely Island comedy group, with Drebin occasionally finding a moment to rant about Tivo settings and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."
However, I think what really makes it all work is the cast. I wasn't initially onboard with Liam Neeson as the new Frank Drebin, even after his work in "The Lego Movie." The role was too incongruous with my image of Neeson as a serious actor who made a lot of brainless action movies. However, it turns out his comic timing is great, he's willing to go to embarrassing lengths for a laugh, and his serious actor persona is part of the joke. After all, Leslie Nielsen was a serious actor too, before "Airplane!" Even better than Neeson is the participation of Pamela Anderson, who finds exactly the right tone and commits beautifully to the comedic madness. She and Neeson make a very cute couple. The supporting cast is also filled with stalwart performers who can keep a straight face - Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Houston, and CCH Pounder.
Finally, is the movie funny? Well, that's a difficult question for a reviewer with a notoriously terrible sense of humor. I didn't laugh much at the new "Naked Gun," but I found it extremely entertaining and I left my screening in a good mood. I don't think this kind of movie will ever be for me, but I like it better than the manchild antics of the Frat Pack, or the tiresome tedium of most romantic comedy/action/spy/whatever movies that I'm supposed to be the target audience for. I don't know that I need a sequel, but maybe they could spin off the demonically possessed snowman?
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