‘The Naked Gun’ review: Liam Neeson is a comedy genius in this brilliantly stupid reboot

On paper, a restart of naked pistol seemed a bad idea. On the one hand, the franchise with three films was born from the silly television series Police team Built strongly on the right front buffonrie of Leslie Nielsen, who died 15 years ago. For another, this series of films has renounced by parody and parody, a brand of humor which fell largely out of fashion from the boom of films of the 2000s as Scary film, Not another film for teenagers,, Epic film, and so on.

Beyond that, The naked pistolThe premise is potentially problematic: a cop of the actions-to-which never respects the rules and is silly, violent and catastrophic in its pursuit of a criminal. In 1988, when the first film was presented at first, Frank Drebin de Nielsen played as a parody necessary for all action films that considered these cowboy cops like heroes with white hat. Today, when the discourse on police brutality has increased by step as a giant, could such a premise still play?

It turns out that yes. Incredibly, 2025 The naked pistol Rivals with his predecessors in hilarity, his scandalman and his sharpness of shooting to his comic targets. It is largely thanks to Liam Neeson. No stranger to game cops, Neeson faces the detective coat Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the character of Nielsen. Like this Frank aspires to make his predecessor proud, Neeson walks with confidence in the footsteps of Nielsen, who established a perfect parody with the pitch with Police squad!, The naked pistol, And Plane! However, Neeson is not responsible for exhausting such madness alone. His Costar, the Priscilla Presley of his Leslie Nielsen, is Pamela Anderson, who brilliantly channels her legendary sex appeal in a sensual and fatal idiot woman.

Together, they are a dream team, sure to make the public were laughing at laughter.

The naked pistol aims for technical bros.

Credit: Pictures Paramount

Who better to use as a comicly evil villain of a naked weapon film than a billionaire who sells electric cars with a program to conquer the world? And who better than Danny Huston, master of the threatening smile, to play Richard Cane technology?

When an engineer presents himself dead at the bottom of a cliff in a flashy electric car, Frank and Police Squad, a special LAPD department, is on the case. Along the way, Frank meets Beth Davenport, the kind of lady Courby who inspires the narration of vigorous voice -ups and gloriously clumsy romantic tangents involving a sensitive and sexual snowman. Beth is the surviving sister of the suspected man, but she is also a true crime writer. She therefore feels particularly suitable to help Frank investigate Richard’s involvement in the disappearance of her brother. But can love and justice mix?

Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson are ridiculously funny in The naked pistol.

Credit: Pictures Paramount

It is impossible not to compare Neeson’s point of view on this very familiar character in Nielsen. But incredibly, the Northern Irish actor, who has long been a hero of action and a dramatic actor, rises well in the comparison. Just as Nielsen played the most ideal jokes with an impassive face, Neeson brings the gravity of the launching years of this role with a funny delirious stoicism.

He speaks in a growl, which makes his observations silly all the more hilarious. And when it stands out from time to time with this paradoxical severity, it is somehow even funnier. For example, when Frank does not understand a social signal, thinking that the person who was addressing him says his The name is Frank Drebin, the highly pelleting high cop, “me too!” And the sudden change in behavior is undoubtedly that causes laughter.

Accessories to the member of Lonely Island, Akiva Schaffer, who directs the humor expert The naked pistol. He asked Neeson to get involved in a major request. Alongside the ridiculous lines, Neeson also embraces physical comedy, a certain nudity on the screen and the scatalogical humor which could risk eroding his untouchable lasting character. Instead, the tremor of this character is the special sauce that makes this blow even harder than his comic cop Lego film And Derry Girls.

As for Anderson, it uses beautifully, in particular with a naked musical performance of weapon style which involves some of the most confusing scarmations in human history. The addition of punch to the relentless assault of jokes – which had criticism from New York (a batch notoriously difficult to impress!) Throughout the cinema – are solid support players Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, CCH POUDER, Liza Koshy and a chaotic cake baking barrage that I do not manage here.

The naked pistol is back and exactly what fans will want.

Credit: Pictures Paramount

While Naked pistol Offer fewer simple parodies than the first three films, it is nevertheless hysterical. Schaffer scriptwriters, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand offer a mixture of jokes that go from taboo (like a little on the personal wine reserve of Bill Cosby) with maturely cerebral tabco on “unusual homicide”. With such a variety of punchlines, successes continue to come, even if not all are landed. The public will laugh in theaters as they have not done for years. This, finally, is a laughing laughter in theaters with a crowd.

The naked pistol is not only funny, it is exhilarating because – to quote King Parody “Weird Al” Yankovic (who appears in the three original films) – he “dose (s) to be stupid”. There is an exciting bravery by kissing such a stupid humor, and doing it in a way that does not strike. Schaffer and the awareness of Schaffer and the company, namely who becomes the target of jokes made The naked pistol Feel modern, even if it keeps signing bits that could risk feeling dated – like the final gel frame – but feel rather timeless.

In other words, The naked pistol is back and as stupid and stupid as ever. And I can’t think of higher praise than that.

The naked pistol Open in the halls of August 1.