The Naked Gun (2025) is competently unnecessary

The Naked Gun – 2025
Director Akiva Schaffer
Screenplay Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, Akiva Schaffer
Starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand

The remake of the classic Police Squad television, then movie series has a willing cast and crew. The absurdist humor pays homage to the superior Abrams, Zucker, Abrams work that precedes it. There is, however, nothing like the real thing.

Neeson plays Frank Drebin, Jr., the supposed son of Leslie Nielsen’s original Drebin. Interestingly, Neeson is 73 years old. Only 11 years younger than Nielsen would be were he alive today. Not sure the math works, even in a comedic sense.

Drebin Jr is assisted by Hauser’s Capt. Ed Hocken, Jr. who is supposed to be George Kennedy’s son. The age difference there is 91 to 38. This makes him just about the age of his wife getting pregnant in the original movie series. Of course this also puts his lineage in doubt.

The story this time has Drebin, Jr. and Hocken, Jr. facing an entrepreneur similar to Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos. This character is named Richard Cane (Huston). He is planning to use his P.L.O.T. (Primordial Law of Toughness) Device to start a new world order.

Along the way, Drebin meets Beth Davenport (Anderson), whose brother had been murdered. Of course this murder ties directly to the device.

As for the comedy, there are a lot of moments that make one smile. The weekend at the Alpine Lodge is the only set that brought outright laughter to this viewer.

The rest of the movie is pleasant. It is not necessarily as sharp as the work done even in the later Nielsen movies. I kept trying to find a reason why it was good that this film popped into existence. Neeson is game pushing the absurdist humor, but nowhere near Nielsen. As Beth, Anderson does an admirable job playing against type. Hauser seems wasted, compared to the talent he shows even in last week’s Fantastic Four. Huston’s bad guy is the only presence completely on par with the original films.

The three people I went to this film enjoyed this film much more than I did. One said he hadn’t laughed that hard at a film in a decade. It could be subjective, but it also could be what mood with which you arrived to the film. My guess is none of us will ever re-watch this film like we would the originals, even with O.J. Simpson in the third lead.

(**1/2 out of *****)