Liam Neeson stars in the new reboot of “The Naked Gun.” (Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures)
By Jocelyn Keddington
“The Naked Gun” is a painfully unfunny reboot that proves how hard it is to re-create a comedy classic. The original 1988 film, directed by David Zucker, has remained a comedy staple for nearly four decades. But the new version, directed by Akiva Schaffer, trades sharp slapstick for generic action-comedy and tired pop culture gags.
From the start, the movie struggles with tone and the sight gags rely on spectacle to make up for the lack of good writing. At times, there are cringeworthy moments that seem like a bad judgment call to even keep them in the script. This includes the scene at Beth Davenport’s (Pamela Anderson) apartment, when her and Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) are watched by a rival agent through high-rise windows and infrared goggles, resulting in a disturbing innuendo involving a dog and a turkey baster. Instead of the joke landing, it leaves the audience squirming rather than laughing.
The film’s lead is also incredibly miscast. The film opens with a scene where Drebin (Liam Neeson) walks into a bank robbery disguised as a schoolgirl holding a lollipop. When he tears off his disguise to confront the robber, it is unsettling rather than humorous. The hilarity of Neeson’s portrayal of Drebin stemmed from his deadpan reactions as he wore the ridiculous disguises. However, Neeson’s schoolgirl gag relies on the costume itself to be funny, so his performance falls flat.
The script, largely borrowed from the original with few updates, feels less like a tribute and more like a clumsy attempt to modernize. Instead of clever absurdity, audiences get awkward efforts to appear trendy — resulting in secondhand embarrassment instead of comedy.
Rather than honoring a classic, the new “The Naked Gun” settles for shallow nostalgia and earns only a few chuckles.
