As a fan of the original Naked Gun movies, I was skeptical when I heard about the reboot. Leslie Nielsen’s deadpan delivery and overall buffoonery in these types of films just didn’t feel rebootable. I was even more surprised when I found out that Liam Neeson had been cast as the new Frank Debrin. But the contrast between the two men proved to be a good thing as it gave the reboot a sense of freshness while allowing it to pay homage to the original films.
Neeson’s Frank is kinda like his Taken character, but on steroids. The man is taking down bank robbers with his particular set of skills, but he’s also pretty inept at times. What makes it hilarious is that he’s delivering lines like he’s in an intense, action movie, and yet he’s doing things like biting off gun barrels and fighting off the bad guys in a schoolgirl uniform. Neeson can never be as funny as Nielsen was, but the good thing about this reboot is that he doesn’t have to be. The set pieces and gags do the heavy lifting for him, and all he has to do is find the right way to deliver the joke so it lands in the way that it needs to. When you have running gags like the never-ending coffee cups and even smaller moments like the cold case bit, you don’t really need a comedian in the driver’s seat.
It also helps that Neeson has obvious chemistry with Pamela Anderson’s Beth, who comes into Frank’s orbit as he’s investigating her brother’s death. I could never quite buy into Nielsen’s character landing all the hot women in his movies – it became part of the absurdity so inherent to The Naked Gun films – but this version of Frank? Yeah, I completely believe that he could land a beautiful woman like Beth. Comedy isn’t exactly Anderson’s wheelhouse, but she absolutely commits to the role, and that scatting scene alone is comedic gold.
I do wish the movie had more space for Paul Walter Hauser’s Ed Hocken Jr. He’s given very little to do in the film, which is such a waste because I think he’s got the range to pull off whatever set piece they cook up. But at least I got to watch him clothesline a bunch of children, so that’s fun.
In a fun bit of casting, we get Danny Huston as the villainous Richard Crane. I’ve known the man mostly in antagonist roles – I kept referring to him as Stryker while I watched the film – so it feels apt that he’s the resident bad guy here. His villainous desire is basically an exact copy of whatever Samuel L. Jackson’s character was cooking up in The Kingsman movie. But hey, the plot isn’t the reason why we watch these sort of dumb films, so the villain’s stupid motives don’t really matter.
The Naked Gun (2025) will never be a comedy movie that makes you feel something – that’s just not part of its DNA. Its whole intention is just to make you laugh at all the stupidity and have a good time at the movies. It’s not meant to have an emotional core, so the experience is always going to feel a little hollow as a result. When I think of comedies I love, like Bridesmaids or Superbad, the comedy is built around relationships and the main character’s narrative arc. These movies want you to invest in these relationships and relate to these characters. I see The Naked Gun (2025) for what it is – a dumb movie that me and my husband went to go see on a weekday so we could laugh a little and just enjoy yourselves. And we did. We stayed all through the credits, giggling at every easter egg we found – the on set dressing joke was especially good – and shared a moment of camaraderie with the couple beside us who was also doing the same.
This is why we go to the movies.
REVIEW SCORE: 3.5/5
