The new “Naked Gun” is so stupid you’ll wonder why the original spawned several sequels after a so-so television series.
Here, jokes aren’t rapid-fire. They often take time to 1.) remind the viewer what this is, and 2.) get used to Liam Neeson’s not-so-obvious style.
A perfect choice to play Frank Drebin Jr. (Senior was played by Leslie Nielsen), Neeson deadpans his way through several good laughs, then tries to rescue several D.O.A. ones.
Liam Neeson plays Frank in "The Naked Gun."
Paramount Pictures
Another pass through the typewriter (to use a reference from a former era) might have helped. Now, it’s just a matter of seeing who turned up for a cameo.
Priscilla Presley is here. So, too, is Dave Bautista. But this isn’t a lineup of lampoonable actors and athletes. It’s a faint attempt at trying to recreate an era when wordplay and idiocy found common ground.
Neeson goes on the hunt for what amounts to a tech villain (who wants a machine in a safe deposit box that’s labeled P.L.O.T. device) determined to control anything he can get his hands on. Pamela Anderson joins the fray, looking for a killer and — surprise, surprise — she gets many of the laughs she nurtures. Walking out of the police station with a metal chair, she has a change of heart when Drebin says, “Take a seat.”
He gets goofy lines, too, including one that references Catherine Zeta-Jones in “Chicago.” It takes someone with a certain sense of humor to get what director Akiva Schaffer is serving, but even he runs out of ways to dish. That means a good chunk of the film is spent trying to wrap up the plot so he and others can devise a credits scene that leaves ‘em laughing.
Doesn’t work.
Even though it’s less than 90 minutes, “The Naked Gun” has several dry patches. Paul Walter Hauser, who plays Drebin’s sidekick, gets no discernable laughs, even though he was a geyser in “I, Tonya” and other films.
Zucker/Abraham/Zucker, the team behind the original, had the right mindset; Dan Gregor, Doug Mead and Schaffer seem like they’re spit balling after seeing an earlier film.
Because this genre hasn’t been around in decades, it requires a refresher — that could have come from an early flashback. That would have set the scene and let Neeson confidently mess with things Nielsen tossed off with style.
There’s no whoopee cushion in this, but there’s an overlong diarrhea joke that could have used a quick flush.
