For those not familiar with The Naked Gun, it started life as a very short-lived TV series back in the early ’80s, entitled Police Squad. Starring Leslie Nielsen and created by the team behind Airplane! It became a feature film in 1988 and spawned two sequels, and they are still some of the funniest movies around. Now we get a reboot from producer Seth MacFarland and the director of the comedy team The Lonely Island, and what should have been a laugh-fest is very silly but only sporadically funny. A hard act to follow, and it really shows the genius of the originals.

Detective Frank Drebin Jr of Police Squad is on the case of a car accident that leads him to a plan by a tech company to take over the world. Yet Drebin becomes a pawn of the plan while at the same time, the cop finds love in the form of Beth Davenport, the sister of the victim in the car accident.

It’s hard not to compare this to the original film, as it was so iconic, not just for the gags-per-second but by Leslie Nielsen, who had this ability to still play it straight even when it gets so ridiculous. Akiva Schaffer, the co-writer and director of this reboot, has an understanding of how the spoof movie works, but just falls short of getting it 100% correct.

It starts off very promising, with a bank robbery interrupted by the arrival of a little girl, who turns out to be Frank Jr in disguise, which is not a plot spoiler as this was in the trailer. It then throws up some hilarious moments and sight gags, but what the Zucker Brothers and Jim Abrahams, the creators of Police Squad, knew how to serve its audience was to throw a joke in virtually every moment, whether it be a sight gag, a piece of slapstick or some clever wordplay. Here, we get a high level of jokes, but there are extended periods where not a titter can be heard.

As with Police Squad and the movies, some of the jokes didn’t work, but you could forgive it as it was a small proportion compared to the hits. Here, some of the jokes go on too long, and they become tiresome. A scene involving a snowman just doesn’t work, and in one scene, it has been lifted from Austin Powers. Not that originality is a problem, but to steal a routine from another movie is somewhat of a surprise.

When the film does work, it is a pleasure. It’s been a long time since I remember hearing an audience laughing out loud (Anchorman was probably the last time). A scene where the cast pays tribute to the former actors in the original films who have now departed, ending with a police officer looking at a picture of O.J. Simpson, is hilarious. A running gag about coffee is also a blast.

Stepping into Leslie Nielsen’s big shoes was always going to be a tough act to follow, and the surprising choice of Liam Neeson almost works. Both actors came from dramatic backgrounds, but Neeson didn’t have a film like Airplane! to warm him up. He is funny, no doubt, but you get a sense that he is in on the joke, whereas Nielsen had things happen to him, and he never reacted. It’s like Neeson is winking at the camera most of the time. The real shock is just how funny Pamela Anderson is. Having a real renaissance after The Last Showgirl, Anderson is hilarious, especially during a jazz club sequence, where she takes to the stage to perform the most bizarre jazz scat routine.

The Naked Gun is funny and very silly, no doubt about it, and if this were a stand-alone movie, it would be a masterclass in comedy. It does fall short of the originals, but it was nice to see it in a cinema where the audience is laughing. And it’s great to see the return of a forgotten genre, the spoof movie.

3 out of 5

Director: Akiva Schaffer

Starring: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durant, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, Michael Beasley

Written by: Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, Akiva Schaffer (based on the television series “Police Squad”) Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker

Running Time: 85 mins

Cert: 15

Release date: 1st August 2025