The brilliant comedy of The Naked Gun franchise dates back over four decades, as the original flick was based on the old TV show Police Squad! That may be common knowledge to anyone who grew up watching Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin, but now younger audiences are going to get a chance to familiarize themselves with the crime spoofs. The Naked Gun reboot hits the 2025 movie calendar in a couple of weeks, and people are hitting social media with their first reactions.
Liam Neeson leads the legacy sequel’s cast as Frank Drebin Jr., and the new Naked Gun trailer looks absolutely ridiculous — which is just what fans like myself are hoping for. So what are moviegoers saying after catching early screenings of the movie? JimmyO of JoBlo posts that it’s “consistently funny” from start to finish:
Holy hell, The Naked Gun is the funniest flick I’ve seen for a while. Liam Neeson is so freaking perfect as Frank Drebin Jr. and the comedic chemistry he shares the Pamela Anderson is absolutely wonderful. Ms. Anderson is an exceptionally funny comic actress! One sequence in particular had me in tears, laughing so hard. … If you wanna laugh - a whole lot - go see The Naked Gun, August 1st! I’m going again! Can’t get the goofy nature of it outta my head, weeks later!
That’s not the only person talking about Pamela Anderson. The Baywatch alum almost appeared in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult in 1994, but now 30 years later she’s getting a crack at the spoof series in a co-starring role. Critic Erik Davis says the actress was “perfectly cast,” as he writes:
I can finally talk about how obsessed I am with The Naked Gun reboot. Director Akiva Schaffer delivers a hilarious film stuffed with hundreds of gags that very much honors the original series. Haven’t laughed that much in a while - walked out feeling amazing. Highly recommend! Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson are perfectly cast imo, and the jokes are endless, but there’s nothing offensive in it at all. Just 100% pure silly spoof humor. One could say they don’t make ‘em like this anymore.
Jeffrey Vega of IGN very strongly rejects that sentiment, saying that this fourth installment of The Naked Gun franchise proves otherwise. Vega writes:
I saw The Naked Gun and I can now say they ARE making them like they used to! There are so many great jokes in this and you can tell the filmmakers had so much fun making an actual comedy movie.
Katcy Stephan of Variety is also weighing in to say that the new Naked Gun feels a lot like the Leslie Nielsen movies from decades past, posting:
‘The Naked Gun’ is so deliciously stupid, and I mean that as the highest compliment. Very true to the spirit of the Leslie Nielsen movies I grew up loving.
“Deliciously stupid” may not sound like a compliment, but when it comes to The Naked Gun, that is 100% what it should be. Early praise seems to be coming in for both Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, but the reboot features a lot of other big names: Paul Walter Hauser, Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes and Michael Bisping, to name a few. And I can’t wait to see what they bring to the police spoof.
We’ve still got a couple of weeks before this one hits theaters, but it seems like this one is a must-see on the big screen. The Naked Gun is set for release Friday, August 1.
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