One of THE most frustrating trends in the mainstream film industry over the last several decades has been the onset of comedy efforts that seem SO focused on being crude and/or gross-out in all ways possible. That, at least for me, makes them no longer funny. This isn’t to say things remain one hundred percent CLEAN, mind you, which I wouldn’t expect from Hollywood anyone, but at least give me something that’s just silly, zany, wacky, and ok, still a tad off-color…and kilter!
It is with great elation that I can definitively state this has been accomplished in spades through the new, refreshed version of “The Naked Gun” that exploded into cinemas with slapstick, physical, and yes, utterly off-color and off-kilter comedic bombast that is precisely what we needed again for the genre. Updating yet also staying true to its 1988 predecessor‘s style and wit, this exercise in Zucker Brothers humor warrants attention while giving you the escape you require to simply sit back and relish LAUGHING from start to finish.
Timing in at a BRISK (and totally apropos) eighty-minutes long, the film that sees the hysterical misadventures of veteran cop Frank Drebin, Jr. (the son of the original’s Frank who was played by the incomparable Leslie Nielsen and here played by an equally riotous Liam Neeson!) who finds himself yet again embroiled in any and all situations that give him room to cause as much chaos as possible, ALL for our belly laugh-inducing pleasure. From the VERY first sequence to the end, I truly can say the majority of the time was SPENT just roaring!
What makes it work so effectively IS the very fact that just like the films that came before in this spoof comedy vein (think “Airplane“, “Airplane 2“, “Hot Shots!, “Hot Shots! Part Deux“, “National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon“, et al), the jocularity is solely meant to be flat out goofy, hare-brained, and, quite frankly, STUPID. And it’s AWESOME! Now yes, there are several moments within the runtime here where the humor does cross over to more overtly crude….and yet, in THIS kind of context, it is still sidesplitting rather than blatantly off-putting.
Additionally, what gets so deftly executed are some superb bits that give direct “wink-wink, nod-nods” TO the original film, referencing some characters we assuredly recall with great fondness. Let’s just say, police work at Police Squad remains VERY much “in the family” for many officers….for better or for worse! There’s a whimsical manner in which Frank, Jr. gets to seek help from his long deceased father which is just plain fun and yet, in a strange way, touching.
The double entendres, plays on words, common phrases being taken a BIT too literally, and all those elements are on wholly farcical display throughout the film as well. As indicated above, what does the most justice to a film in this realm is to make it quick and unrelenting in its content so as to push as much at us as the viewer it can, yet not try to extend the insanity out to MORE than it should, where the humor would die and the engagement with it would then follow suit.
Neeson, I’ve more recently felt, has been drastically and overly typecast ever since his re-emergence as an action star via “Taken” in 2008. Here, though, he arrives at the scene of the crime with EVERYTHING we require to establish that he CAN very successfully pull off the funnies with the same magnitude of energy as he can playing Bryan Mills (or any of the carbon copies that followed, sadly. I LOVE you, Liam, but you are better than that!).
As Frank Drebin, Jr., the character wastes NO time at ALL in cementing his place as his father’s son, and then maintains it for the entire eighty minutes, shooting, stumbling, mishandling, and manhandling everything that gets in his way to gut-busting degrees. Neeson carries this fashion of humor with such ease, it’s a wonder (outside of the “Lego” movies where his “good cop/bad cop” character stole scenes!) he hasn’t tried this path sooner. Bravo, Liam, bravo!!
Interestingly enough, perhaps the bigger surprise here is the foremost “Baywatch” gal herself, Pamela Anderson, in her co-lead role as Beth Davenport, a woman on a mission who gets the “honor” of becoming paired up with Frank, Jr. as they both attempt to take down the designated baddie who’s out to make everyone’s life miserable…and of course take over the world! Anderson completely owns her scenes both with Neeson and on her own in such a wonderful and astute manner, with the comedy chops to boot! Love it!!
Supporting turns are plenty (and also undeniably witty), featuring Danny Huston as the diabolical Richard Crane, CCH Pounder as Drebin’s hapless and long-suffering commander Chief Davis, Paul Walter Hauser as Ed Hocken, Jr. (son of the original’s Ed Hocken, played brilliantly by the late George Kennedy), Kevin Durand as Crane’s righ hand goon Sig, Liza Koshy as Detective Barnes, and Eddie Yu as Detective Park, amidst other appearances from Moses Jones, “Weird Al” Yankovic, and, yes, Priscilla Presley (Frank, Sr,’s love interest Jane from the original!).
People, this is truly the format of comedy that this critic hopes makes a come back on the heals of this film’s (I pray) success so that not only might we get a sequel, but that it will usher in a new era of goofball comedic efforts that will prolifically yield the kind of escapism and lighthearted mood we could ALL use a lot more of in a world that desperately needs to LIGHTEN UP and LAUGH!
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