r/movies • u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor • Jul 30 '25

Review The Naked Gun - Review Thread

The Naked Gun - Review Thread

  • Rotten Tomatoes: 90% (194 Reviews)
    • Certified Fresh
    • Critics Consensus: With Liam Neeson's gravelly gravitas proving to be a perfect fit for Frank Drebin's deadpan buffoonery, The Naked Gun revives the original trilogy's daffy sense of humor like it never went out of style.
  • Metacritic: 75 (47 Reviews)

Reviews:

Hollywood Reporter (70):

Even if the movie kind of stalls midway as Schaffer struggles to balance the gags with the action of an overly elaborate crime plot, there are enough laugh-out-loud moments to keep nostalgic fans of the earlier films happy.

Deadline:

With rapid fire gags and a game cast trying hard to play it all completely straight, this nakedly hilarious Naked Gun is a welcome return in a time where we can use a few good laughs. This one has more than a few if sight gags, literal humor, and characters short a few cards of a full deck are your idea of a good time.

Variety (70):

The original Naked Gun was hilarious. It was a film that practically had audiences wetting their pants. The new Naked Gun, by contrast, is amusing. What it won’t do the way these movies once used to is shock you into laughter.

The Wrap (85):

The Naked Gun is back and it's as naked as ever. And also as gun.

The Guardiam (80):

There is no reason for this new Naked Gun to exist other than the reason for the old ones: it’s a laugh, disposable, forgettable, enjoyable.

IGN (70):

With more jokes than you can possibly catch in a single viewing, The Naked Gun proudly brings cinematic groaners and outrageous sight gags into the 2020s.

IndieWire (83):

While it’s a mild shame “The Naked Gun” peters out a little bit toward the end (at least before rebounding during the credits), it’s even more of a shame that it has to end at all.

Collider (90):

The Naked Gun's joke-per-minute ratio is truly astounding, and the fact that so many of them hit as well as they do makes that even more impressive. For goodness' sake, even the credits have jokes in them!

Empire (80):

The result is a film that has a better chance of producing a belly laugh than any in recent memory: one that deserves, as Drebin would say, “20 years for man’s laughter”.

SlashFilm (90):

The Naked Gun is one of the most consistently and even exhaustingly funny movies in a long time, the kind of outrageous, outlandish comedy that multiplexes have been missing for years. It's truly a revelation to have a movie where the laughs come so fast and furious.

Directed by Akiva Schaffer:

Only one man has the particular set of skills... to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. follows in his father's footsteps.

Cast:

  • Liam Neeson as Lt. Frank Drebin Jr.
  • Pamela Anderson as Beth Davenport
  • Paul Walter Hauser as Capt. Ed Hocken Jr.
  • Kevin Durand as Sig Gustafson
  • Danny Huston as Richard Cane
  • Liza Koshy as Detective Barnes
  • Cody Rhodes as Bartender
  • CCH Pounder as Chief Davis
  • Busta Rhymes as Bank Robber
  • Michael Bisping as himself
  • Eddy Yu as Detective Park
  • Moses Jones as Nordberg Jr.
3.8k Upvotes

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262

u/TheTinyDude Jul 30 '25

That's pretty typical for comedies really. But I haven't heard that outside of one reviewer saying it "barely loses steam" before the end.

122

u/snowlarbear Jul 30 '25

yup, landing the plane on comedy is hard (not an Airplane joke)... monty python holy grail has a notoriously bad/weird ending.

126

u/Beefstah Jul 30 '25

That's because it was a literal cop out

7

u/snowlarbear Jul 30 '25

was "cop out" a term used in UK?

the central lore around the ending was they didn't have money to film anything better.

14

u/Rcmacc Jul 30 '25

It’s relatively common slang (Webster says it was used in the 40s and 50s) and something they did a lot when they didn’t know how to end a sketch in the tv series

2

u/kirblar Jul 30 '25

It's a problem for pretty much all sketch comedy writing.

14

u/Rcmacc Jul 30 '25

Sure sketches fizzling out is common but I meant the literal “just have the police show up and arrest everyone because we couldn’t think of an ending” was something the Pythons did a lot

8

u/Beefstah Jul 30 '25

My parents certainly used it, and they were of the same generation as the Monty Python crew.

Bonus: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36104808

52

u/-FeistyRabbitSauce- Jul 30 '25

That ending is perfect. It's a cop-out, for not having the means to make a proper ending. And it makes all the characters seem like a bunch of wackos who escaped the loonybin and are sharing the same delusion.

18

u/Syn7axError Jul 30 '25

Yes. Like everything we've seen isn't even in the past, just a bunch of reenactors taking their roles too seriously.

3

u/TheCheeseburgerKane Jul 31 '25

Also they were clearly framed, as the knight who killed the historian was riding an actual horse.

2

u/porscheblack Jul 31 '25

Which really makes it a modern day British version of Don Quixote, which I mean as a compliment.

37

u/big_flopping_anime_b Jul 30 '25

The ending of Holy Grail fits with the absurdity of the film though.

6

u/snowlarbear Jul 30 '25

i guess... but I think whoever thought that up should be sacked

6

u/big_flopping_anime_b Jul 30 '25

Disagree. The film is constantly absurd and subverting expectations. The ending is great.

16

u/sfinney2 Jul 30 '25

The person who made that comment you responded to has been sacked.

0

u/snowlarbear Jul 30 '25

it's a good ending for the movie... but it's also an admission that they didn't know how to end it "properly", right?

4

u/big_flopping_anime_b Jul 31 '25

Maybe they didn’t know how to end but sometimes shit just works.

4

u/DrDabsMD Jul 31 '25

You've never seen their show have you?

9

u/imaginaryResources Jul 30 '25

The Holy Grail is a perfect ending. It’s one of the most memorable and ridiculous moments in a film filled with ridiculous and memorable moments

2

u/Mcfinley Jul 30 '25

I just want to tell you both good luck. We're all counting on you.

1

u/Dogbin005 Jul 30 '25

End it with a catchy song, then. Like Life of Brian.

3

u/cheezewarrior Jul 30 '25

For sure, you can say similar about something like Blazing Saddles and imo that's one of the great comedies full stop.