I was very skeptical of the new Naked Gun, starring Liam Neeson, when it was announced as part of the 2025 movie schedule. I grew up a child of the ‘80s, and the original Naked Gun series, especially the first one, was right in my wheelhouse. I’m tired of Gen X nostalgia, so I didn’t think I’d bother even watching this new re-imagining of the classic franchise.
Luckily, I have now seen it and all my worries were set aside. The Naked Gun is really funny, and smartly, the filmmakers didn’t try to compete with the original in the sheer number of jokes being thrown at the audience. It’s the smartest thing they could have done.
The Original Naked Gun Is Jokes On Top Of Jokes On Top Of Jokes
Jim Abrahams, along with brothers Jerry and David Zucker, collectively known as Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker, were the geniuses behind the original Naked Gun starring Leslie Neilson. They also created the TV show Police Squad!, which was the short-lived TV show that eventually spawned the franchise. The trio are also the creative geniuses behind Airplane! and Top Secret! They sure did love exclamation points!
What Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker were so good at was layering jokes on top of jokes. Every scene in their original movie is crammed with multiple jokes, often at the same time, and they all work together brilliantly. It’s something that is incredibly difficult to get right, and they nailed it far more often than they didn’t. It wasn’t enough to have a funny line of dialogue; there also had to be a sight gag going on, and another sight gag happening in the background.
I’ve never counted the jokes in the original, but there have to be well over 150 in just under 90 minutes. The new film on the other hand, doesn’t try to go toe-to-toe on sheer volume, and it works really well.
Trying To Match The Original Would Have Been A Mistake
There are plenty of jokes in the new one, and Liam Neeson is the perfect choice as Frank Drebin, Jr. There are tons of jokes and gags (plus some wonderful homages to the original), and they all match the tone of the predecessor perfectly. What there isn’t, is nearly as many layers of jokes. There are a few, but the filmmakers behind the new one really pick and chose when to ratchet up the joke density. This was the best decision they could have made when mapping out the movie.
Trying to match Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker is a mistake that quite a few movies have attempted – and generally failed at – since the trio first started making hits in the late ‘70s. It’s like someone trying to be Mel Brooks. There is a special talent that they had that means trying to mimic it will only lead to failure. Instead, the new one has all the vibes that The Naked Gun had in 1988, but doesn’t collapse under the weight of the sheer volume of gags.
The new Naked Gun works really well, and it’s really funny, and it’s the restraint the filmmakers used that makes it both.
