A Miracle Of Modern Stupidity

I was skeptical about The Naked Gun. Another rights-driven reboot that could fall into the all-too-familiar trap of nostalgia bait and reheated leftovers. Liam Neeson stepping in for the impossible-to-replace Leslie Nielsen? Seth McFarlane hiding in the wings as a producer? A visual style like every piece of low-effort digital studio sludge today? I can’t say I was in the movie’s corner before it was released.

However, the response to The Naked Gun from critics and audiences piqued my interest. Oh, and it’s Akiva Schaffer in the director’s chair? Okay, I guess I was going to have to strap on my Pull-Ups and do my duty as someone who loves spoof comedies before they became poisoned by Those Two ‘Movie’ Guys that pumped out dreck as quickly as possible.

And whaddaya know? The Naked Gun didn’t simply meet my expectations, it blew threw them with a force like my butt through a pair of underwear after Chili Con Carnage 2009.

Same Spirit, New Moves

What surprised me the most about The Naked Gun was its ability to capture the rapid fire spirit and relentless gaggery of the original film while never feeling like a ventriloquist act. The reboot isn’t puppeteering the nostalgia of the past to make you clap like trained seals at Things You Know. It takes the familiar rhythms and tones from the Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker school of comedy and infuses them with its own sense of humor and style. Truly, this is something of a minor miracle from a writing standpoint so kudos to Schaffer and co-writers Doug Mand and Dan Gregor.

Talking about the rhythm of The Naked Gun, this is the kind of movie that knows exactly the experience it’s offering and isn’t trying to sell you on anything bigger. At 85 minutes with credits (which you should sit through), this movie keeps on moving, spending just the amount of time it needs with any given plot beat or joke. You want to talk about not overstaying its welcome, buddy, this movie knows the exact moment to leave the party while they are still laughing.

Smart Stupidity

It’s also worth noting that The Naked Gun manages to be the best narrative in the entire franchise outside of individual episodes of Police Squad!. We’ve got another correct villain for 2025 in Danny Huston’s thinly-veiled Elon Musk monster who helps ground so much of the movie’s smart satire. For as riotously silly as this movie gets, it has some clear and worthwhile real-world targets it aims its naked gun at. If you don’t get the joke, you’re either dim or don’t realize it’s aimed at you, numbskull.

All around, The Naked Gun proves this kind of comedy is still worth putting real money into as long as the voices behind it truly understand the sub-genre of spoof. Even writing about The Naked Gun makes me want to watch it again. The arsenal of absurdity is loaded for bear in a movie that could’ve easily gone so very, very wrong. Quite the opposite! The Naked Gun is must-see mirth and one of 2025’s knockout good times.