Review of the movie "The Naked Gun"

On July 31, Liam Neeson will appear in an unusual role of a ̶s̶c̶h̶o̶o̶l̶g̶i̶r̶l̶ in the comedy film “The Naked Gun”. This is a direct sequel to the cult trilogy of the same name with Leslie Nielsen, in which Neeson will play Frank Drebin Jr. His partner on the set is Pamela Anderson, who needs no introduction. What came of this venture, when the comedy genre is experiencing stagnation, we are eager to tell you in the review below.

“The Naked Gun”

Genre parody comedy
Director Akiva Shaffer
Starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Gauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Lisa Coshi, Cody Rhodes, Basta Rhimes, “Weird Al” Yankovic
Premiere movie theaters
Year of release 2025
Website IMDb, official website

Once upon a time, police detective Frank Drebin systematically exposed the sinister plans of insidious villains, albeit with great difficulty. His son, Frank Drebin Jr. followed in his father’s footsteps and also became a police officer, accustomed to acting where others are powerless. The tech magnate Richard Kane, who is clearly up to no good, comes to the cop’s attention. Also, the fatal blonde Beth Davenport, who has her own motives in this case, stands in the way of the unyielding grandfather. Brace yourselves, worthless scoundrels and bystanders, because Frank Drebin Jr. is going to save the world!

Just as Liam Neeson takes on the task of rescuing the good old movie parody, whose popularity and power have come to naught in the face of genre decline and modern tolerant sensibility. It’s even a little strange that this mission was entrusted to the shoulders of the handsome Irishman: after the success of Taken (2007), he literally mired in the image of an elderly, harsh action hero without fear or reproach (about whom we wrote over here) and was hardly associated with the star of the comedy genre.

In this respect, the actor is very similar to his predecessor Leslie Nielsen, a venerable veteran and comedy icon, including the cult trilogy The Naked Gun. The latter also acted mostly in serious films until he got into Airplane (1980), which mocked the disaster movies. Then comedies of varying degrees of quality with the invariably gray-haired Nielsen began to appear like mushrooms after the rain, and he starred in them until the end of his life.

But while the comedy genre gave Nielsen a change of role, Neeson, probably unexpectedly for him, has changed his personal life — only the lazy do not remember his affair with the sex symbol of his era, Pamela Anderson. And the former Playboy and Baywatch star herself has rebooted her film career and received her first Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress for her role in the drama The Last Showgirl (2024).

At the same time, Pamela’s foolishness in the parody is also familiar, as she played, symbolically, a schoolgirl dressed as a schoolgirl in “Scary Movie 3” (2003) and no less hot Sue Storm in Superhero Movie (2008). Leslie Nielsen also shone in both, by the way.

11 years ago, Seth MacFarlane, who was not least responsible for bringing The Naked Gun back to the screens, released a completely ridiculous comedy with a western flavor, A Million Ways to Die in the West (which also featured Neeson). And back then, the fragile world was not ready to accept that frankly crude and excessive humor. Today, as we can see, the situation has changed.

However, in the current an era that is destructive for laughter the film seems almost like a breath of fresh air. Favorable reviews from viewers and critics directly confirm this: the public simply missed films of this kind. Films that are deliberately idiotic and blatantly absurd. Films where jokes fall like machine-gun fire, and at least one out of ten will go off for sure. Films whose creators are not afraid to offend someone, because, as you know, water is carried on the offended.

This is the main value of Naked Gun from 2025: in addition to the nostalgic, old-school vibe of a long-gone era, this film screams from all sides that it was created solely to make the viewer have fun. How much it succeeds will depend on subjective perception. Many of the jokes are shooting for milk. The scene with the thermal imager — is wonderful in its wit and really explosive, I wish we had more of it. The scene with the snowman is for amateurs. But, for example, the song performance of Anderson’s character is absolutely unnecessary irritating nonsense.

There are also obvious comedic allusions to popular films and genres — it’s surprisingly easy to see a wink to classic noir and police procedural; apparently, the props bought up all the coffee cups at the nearest kiosk. I remember watching Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015), and repeatedly “Mission Impossible” — how about this disguise, Tom Cruise?