The Naked Gun Movie Review

“The Naked Gun” is a spoof sequel — does that make it a ‘Spequel’? And it takes a fresh look at the amazing late 1980’s to early 1990’s movie franchise. When you bring back a classic, well-known concept — you had better deliver the goods. Visual gags, jokes and puns are blasted out from the screen like a confetti shotgun…

It has been close to thirty years since the cops of ‘Police Squad’ had the likes of Frank Drebin (played by the late Leslie Nielsen) leading the Squad.  He was adept at cracking cases, just as he was to cracking jokes. But poor Frank Drebin is now long gone. But fear not! There is now a new member on Police Squad, with a similar name — Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (played by Liam Neeson). His son is now the mainstay in the Squad.

Lt. Drebin has a good-natured partner named Captain Ed Hocken Jr. (played by Paul Walter Hauser). They report to Police Squad Chief Davis (played by CCH Pounder). Drebin and Hocken enjoy a good walk throughout the station, and everywhere really — where random people hand them new cups of coffee. A dangerous situation happens when a downtown Bank is being robbed. The SWAT team is standing by.

But a small schoolgirl with pigtails and colorful sucker ignores the police as they call her back. She enters the Bank to face the hardened criminals. But — SUPRIZE — this is Frank Drebin Jr. in a very convincing disguise. Drebin takes all of the bad guys down — except for one. One man escapes with a device stolen from a safe deposit box. Of course, the words on this secret item actually spell out ‘PLOT Device’. So, there is that…

The next day Chief Davis reprimands Drebin and Hocken. They are sent to investigate a car that went over a cliff — not bank robberies. Drebin feels awful that he was put in a bad spot. They get evidence at the crash site. There was a ‘suicidal’ man who worked for a huge company. This company is run by a multi-billionaire named Richard Cane (played by Danny Huton). Frank Drebin gets a visit from the dead man’s sister, Beth (played by Pamela Anderson).

Beth convinces Lt. Drebin that her brother was done in by one of the goons employed by Richard Cane. She knows that Cane, the owner of a huge conglomerate that makes everything from electric cars to cell phones, is planning some dastardly deeds. Drebin and Beth show up at a swanky club run by Cane. Cane’s main henchman, named Sig Gustafson (played by Kevin Durand) is ready to protect his boss and carry out his dirty work.

Drebin wants to check out Cane’s private office, so Beth gets up and sings an unknown scat version of — maybe a jazz song. Nobody can tell what she is singing, but Richard Cane is loving it. Drebin breaks in and gets some insights about what and who might have been behind Beth’s brother. But soon after, Drebin is taken off the case by Chief Davis. She is not pleased with Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. getting into Cane’s business.

But does Cane lead an evil conspiracy? Of course, it is so evil that in fact it has been ‘borrowed’ from the bad guy’s plan from ‘Kingsman: The Secret Service’.  Send out a signal on everybody’s cell to make them all go insane and kill each other. Cane and his evil partners will be hidden away in a secret bunker waiting for an end to the madness. Oh, with special concerts from Weird Al Yankovic!

Frank Drebin falls in love with Beth and they have a sweet romance. But the evil henchman Sig Gustafson is spying on them with heat-vision goggles. When Beth and Frank work together to innocently fix a turkey dinner — Sig is getting a very different impression from what he can see. Frank and Beth go for a little getaway trip up to the snow. They have some intimate time, but there is a strange living Snowman who wants in on the action. Hope his name is not Olaf…

In every case, and all times, the well-meaning Frank Drebin is getting into multiple scrapes — and deep into Number Two. Chief Davis is treating Drebin with a lot of scorn, and his partner Captain Ed Hocken Jr. is the only who he can trust. Beth is out to find her brother’s killer. Richard Cane is ready to put his devious plan into action on New Year’s Eve. It will all go down at a downtown Arena — which has one of the one of funniest ‘corporate sponsor’ names in history!

So — it’s GO time! Beth is playing the ‘Femme Fatale’ to try and get the scoop from Richard Cane. Ed Hocken is undercover in a beer booth, giving away free beer,  supporting Frank Drebin. There is a huge event going on – a televised Ultimate Fighting Championship. Frank makes an entrance when the New Year’s Eve ‘midnight balls’ drop down too early. Drebin gets some unwanted televised exposure of his own ‘midnight balls’…

The crowd goes wild — but not in a good way. Ed Hocken is chased by angry people wanting more ‘free beer’. Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. is ready to face off against the very evil, and quite weak, Richard Cane. The world has come crashing down, and it is only Drebin who can save the day. Maybe Drebin  — and a friendly owl who has very good aim.

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“The Naked Gun” is nakedly fun! It catches the spirit of the earlier movies (and even the initial TV show), to make a sequel that can hold its own. It can compare to the incredibly spot-on casting in the original (Leslie Nielsen). It does this by raising the ante with a more than adequate substitute, using Liam Neeson in that role.

With Liam Neeson playing this role, as the original Drebin’s grown-up son, he shines just as brightly. This movie proves that Liam Neeson is more than ready to pick up the mantle of dead-pan excellence left by Leslie Nielsen. Also, the casting of Pamela Anderson works out really well.Everyone understands that crazy jokes  — like Chinese food — are only as good as the delivery.

The original series of movies would usually hit on every cylinder, without only an occasionally missed joke or gag. This new version keeps up with the normal crazy antics, but it does sometimes lose it for a few beats. But soon enough, there is another little background details or funny quip that revs up the energy engine. Even the opening title sequence has pretty good gag. And stick around for the scrolling end credits! There are bunch of crazy things tucked away in there, too.

Just out from Rotten Tomatoes — “The Naked Gun” has a Certified Fresh rating of 90% from all critic reviews!

“The Naked Gun”:
Now with Liam Neeson to play Frank Drebin
Audiences will find a ‘Little bit of Hebbin’…