'The Naked Gun' review: The funniest studio comedy in years

Courtesy of Paramount Pictures

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Just when you thought the reboot machine had finally sputtered to a halt, along comes Akiva Schaffer’s uproarious “The Naked Gun” to prove there’s still life left in old franchises, provided you’re willing to get stupid. Gloriously, unapologetically stupid.

Schaffer’s “The Naked Gun” is a comedic triumph that channels the slapstick, farcical, in-your-face spirit of the original trilogy while finding new targets to lampoon and plenty of pratfalls to go around. Liam Neeson, hilariously cast in the Leslie Nielsen-adjacent role of Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., delivers a deadpan performance so committed it becomes the joke itself. Whether he’s confused about a man’s ten-year sentence for “man’s-laughter” or delivering an impassioned rant about his TiVo deleting season one of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Neeson plays it straight with such conviction that it only makes the absurdity, and the arsenal of stupid one liners, hit harder.

The jokes come fast and furious, sometimes so relentlessly that you miss one because you’re still recovering from the last. I haven’t howled this hard, this often, or this consistently at a studio comedy in years. Watching it with a crowd reminded me of what we’ve been missing. Comedies used to be a theatrical staple, but now they’re nearly extinct. With any luck, “The Naked Gun” could be the canary in the coal mine that brings them back.

The film opens with Neeson, in full action star mode, donning a schoolgirl outfit, beret, skirt, pigtails and all, while taking down a squad of bank robbers. It’s ridiculous, effective, and a mission statement of what’s to come. Schaffer, of The Lonely Island fame, wastes no time kicking off a brisk 85-minute laugh-a-thon, co-written with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. The plot itself, something about a tech mogul (Danny Huston, again playing the bad guy) and a widow named Beth Davenport (a radiant Pamela Anderson, finally not the punchline), is just scaffolding for the film’s true purpose: gags on top of gags.

Some jokes don’t pay off until three scenes later. Others fly by in the background, but the film commits to the bit at every turn. The script is loaded with wordplay, visual gags, physical comedy, and the franchise’s trademark zaniness, now updated with a few well-placed modern twists. An infrared sequence involving a dog and some wildly suggestive body positions may be the funniest thing I’ve seen in a decade.

Neeson is the MVP here. He never winks at the camera. He sells every pistol whip and comedic snafu with the same intensity he brought to “Taken,” and that’s exactly what makes it so funny.  Punching out goons beneath a blinking “Now Serving” counter? Perfect. A well timed Black Eyed Peas needle drop during a fight scene? Somehow, it works. There’s even a nod to the opening of “Mission: Impossible – Fallout” that brings the house down.

It’s the kind of comedy that begs to be seen again, if only to catch the jokes you missed while doubled over. If you’re in the mood for a deeply stupid, endlessly funny, and surprisingly well-crafted bit of comic anarchy, buy a ticket to “The Naked Gun.” This is exactly the kind of movie we need more of: proudly over-the-top, and unafraid to go for the jugular of a bad pun. Let the laughter take control of you. 

Grade: A 

THE NAKED GUN is now playing in theaters.