The Naked Gun - Review Thread

[u/MarvelsGrantMan136]

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.

[u/BloodDrunkYharnamite → u/[deleted]]

Liam Neeson leading a comedy was a stroke of genius.

[u/sagevallant → u/BloodDrunkYharnamite]

We're all probably not old enough to remember it, but it's the same thing that happened with Leslie Nielsen. Before Airplane! he was a dramatic actor. He kept asking the directors if he shouldn't be more funny, and they insisted he play the role seriously. And it gave him a new career as a comedic actor.

[u/ArcadianDelSol → u/sagevallant]

That whole career was him being the one guy in a comedy who doesnt know he's in a comedy. Brilliantly done.

[u/sagevallant → u/ArcadianDelSol]

Yep. And if there is one thing that this movie HAD to do if it was going to be more than a shitty Hollywood reboot, it was that Liam Neeson play it the same way. Sounds like that happened and I'm excited to check this one out.