Synopsis: Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. is a well-meaning but catastrophically clumsy cop following in his father’s footsteps in the Police Squad unit. In the reboot, he’s tasked with solving a murder tied to a powerful tech mogul, all while trying to stop the force from being disbanded.
Stars: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, Liza Koshy, Busta Rhymes
Director: Akiva Schaffer
Rated: PG-13
Running Length: 85 minutes
Movie Review in Brief: The thunderous audience response I experienced at The Naked Gun created an infectious energy that elevated decent material into genuine fun. 
Review:
Comedy franchises face an impossible resurrection after decades in the grave, but The Naked Gun (2025) somehow manages to dig itself out with most of its dignity intact. Thirty-one years after The Naked Gun 33 1/3, director Akiva Schaffer (Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers) attempts an unthinkable gamble. He’s reviving Leslie Nielsen‘s deadpan legacy with Liam Neeson (Non-Stop) stepping into Frank Drebin Jr.’s bumbling shoes. The result isn’t the manic perfection of the Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker originals, but it’s something arguably more valuable: a loving tribute that earns its laughs.
Reviving a Classic: The Naked Gun's Comedy Legacy Returns
The original trilogy, born from the glorious wreckage of the brilliant but short-lived Police Squad! series, didn’t just spoof cop dramas—it detonated them. Nielsen’s poker-faced commitment turned idiocy into art, and the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker crew stacked visual gags like a Jenga tower of chaos. So when word broke that Schaffer was helming a reboot with Neeson in the lead and Pamela Anderson (The Last Showgirl) as his co-star, reactions swung from skeptical to straight-up panicked. The miracle? It works. Mostly.
From Slapstick to Smart: How the Reboot Modernizes Absurdity
Schaffer, along with writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, wisely doesn’t attempt a beat-for-beat recreation, realizing that to replicate the original would be a death sentence. Gone is the opening siren sequence (though patient viewers get a clever callback in the end credits) and relentless sight gags. Instead, they pivot toward zippy dialogue-driven absurdity that transforms groaners into genuine laugh lines. And it’s to their credit that they’ve managed to construct a narrative with just enough spine to support the nonsense. It’s less about machine-gun punchlines and more about letting the stupidity breathe.
Meet the New Drebin: Casting Magic and Family Legacy
Neeson plays Frank Drebin Jr., the disaster-prone son of Nielsen’s original detective, now fumbling his way through a murder case tied to slick tech mogul Richard Cane (Danny Huston, Consecration). Anderson steps in as Beth Davenport, the murder victim’s sister who becomes Frank’s romantic interest while keeping tabs on Crane. As Frank’s partner, Paul Walter Hauser (The Fantastic Four: First Steps) plays a surprisingly restrained Ed Hocken Jr. He gives his scenes just the right amount of stoicism. Drebin and Hocken contend with their family legacies while working the case and navigating outside efforts to disband their Police Squad unit entirely.
Neeson proves an inspired casting choice, bringing the same commitment that made Nielsen legendary. Like his predecessor, Neeson built his reputation on serious dramatic roles before discovering his gift for deadpan comedy. His refusal to wink at the audience makes even the most ridiculous situations feel urgent and important. He doesn’t reshape his persona the way Nielsen did post-Airplane!, but his earnest incompetence creates moments of unexpected poignancy within the chaos. Above all else, he understands the assignment: play it like Shakespeare and let the chaos do the rest.
Pamela Anderson's Surprise Renaissance
Anderson is the film’s biggest surprise. After years of being comedy’s punchline, she relishes delivering them instead. Her performance includes a showstopping jazz scat sequence titled “Sassafras Chicken in D.” It goes from baffling to brilliant and back again. Anderson commits so completely that you surrender to the surreal vision. She’s illuminated in a spotlight, riffing while Neeson gets into more hot water situations. While she doesn’t match Priscilla Presley’s willingness for physical comedy (Presley appears in a literal blink-and-you-miss-it cameo), Anderson brings sharp timing and genuine chemistry with Neeson that elevates their romantic subplot. (No wonder they are rumored to be dating in real life.)
Supporting Players and Stylized Silliness
Hauser, best known for larger-than-life comic roles, dials it way down here—and it works. Rather than pushing for laughs, he provides a stability that allows chaos to flow around him as everyone spins out. Huston, unfortunately, represents the film’s laziest casting decision. Here, he’s delivering another variation of his standard villain without the surprise factor that made Ricardo Montalban and Robert Goulet so memorable in earlier entries as delightfully weird antagonists.
Schaffer’s direction hits its stride when he leans into stylized silliness. A mid-film romance montage between Frank and Beth functions as a riotous movie-within-a-movie. It plays like La La Land directed by someone on NyQuil with half an hour of sleep. The technical side of things is solid, if unremarkable: Brandon Trost‘s cinematography mimics the bland polish of TV procedurals, the costumes find the sweet spot between grounded and goofy, and Lorne Balfe‘s score plays it safe where a heavier wink to Ira Newborn‘s classic cues would’ve added flavor.
Final Verdict on The Naked Gun (2025): Funny, Flawed, but Worth It
The Naked Gun stumbles slightly in its final act, trading carefully constructed sight gags for exposition-heavy plotting before recovering with a gloriously wacky fourth-wall-breaking finale. The laughs aren’t constant, but they’re consistent. The jokes land more often than they miss, and the cast’s commitment elevates even weaker moments. However, when the film clicks, it really clicks. Stick around for the end credits: the fake job titles and Easter eggs are some of the funniest bits in the whole movie.
This isn’t the lightning-in-a-bottle magic of the original trilogy, but it represents a surprisingly triumphant resurrection. After years of division and discord, there’s something genuinely therapeutic about sitting in a packed theater laughing collectively through a comedy. The thunderous audience response I experienced at The Naked Gun created an infectious energy that elevated decent material into genuine fun. Comedy works best as a communal experience, and this revival understands that fundamental truth.
For a franchise that seemed impossible to revive, Schaffer and his team have created something that honors the past while finding new ways to make audiences laugh together in the dark. It’s not Nielsen, and it’s not perfect—but it’s pretty damn funny, and that’s a victory in itself.
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