In Cinemas Now: “The Naked Gun” Delivers Hilarious Antics with Superb Comic Timing

The film rushes forward, piling on one joke after another, even through the closing credits.

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures

What makes a comedy, moreover a reboot of television and film, work as hilarious entertainment? At the very least, a partial answer to that question comes in “The Naked Gun,” with director Akiva Schaffer’s decision to throw in everything but the kitchen sink, as the cliché asserts. And it works for co-writers Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Schaffer who combine broad slapstick, clever word play, crude teases, and unfettered silliness. For 85 minutes, the film rushes forward, piling on one joke after another, even through the final seconds of the closing credits. Never stopping to catch its breath, never minding if one gag or witticism doesn’t land, another rushes in immediately, so no matter.

Need someone’s arms pulled off, Frank’s your guy. Need a dozen bank robbers annihilated quickly? How about in fewer than 10 seconds? Happy to oblige. And, oh, Frank hopes viewers don’t mind being thrust into that action before the titles appear in a multilayered nod to “Mission Impossible” fare. How about some ominous, drum heavy music intensifying and driving that opening scene as well? Why not? An inane plot device (so identified, genius), taking words literally (“Please, take a chair”), misinterpretations, a few scatological moments, subtle and obvious references to television and film fare, pratfalls, cold case files kept in a freezer, authoritative voiceover narration, enough coffee to sink a battleship, and outrageous antics characterize this entry into the Police Squad/Naked Gun franchise. The murder of Beth Davenport’s brother initiates the on again, off again investigation, with Beth’s exaggerated sexy appeal on full display, de rigueur for the genre.

Throughout “The Naked Gun,” dazzling word play prompts many of the best laughs; for example, Drebin: “It says here you served 20 years for man’s laughter.” Perp: “You mean manslaughter?” Drevin, clueless: “Must have been quite the joke.” A wild snowman factors in as does a zany wrestling event as Project Inferno threatens the world, unleashing human’s primordial, animal core. This “Naked Gun” iteration follows in the tradition of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker’s six-episode crime parody “Police Squad” that ABC broadcast in 1982, a video game, and three “Naked Gun” films. It pays amusing homage to previous stars, especially Leslie Nielsen, the brilliant, original Detective Frank Drebin. His son, Frank Drebin, Jr., who talks to Drebin, Sr.’s photo, has inherited his father’s job along with every Frank, Sr. idiosyncrasy and limitation, much to our delight. Captain Ed Hocken, Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser) also pays homage to his father, played by George Kennedy in the “Naked Gun” films. Many others are honored with one exception not revealed here.

As Beth Davenport, Pamela Anderson adds to the perfect casting, playing off her image, satirizing the sexual jokes. The best performance, however, comes from Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin, Jr., detective extraordinaire. Neeson’s string of consummate tough enforcer roles adds layers of humor to his Drebin, Jr. act. What an admirably game actor who clearly enjoys mocking and upending those exaggerated roles. Add CCH Pounder as Chief Davis, Danny Huston as the villainous Richard Cane, Kevin Durand as Sig Gustafson, a cameo by Busta Rhymes as the verbally astute Bank Robber, and “Weird Al” Yankovic, and the ensemble cast doesn’t get any better. Deliriously fun, this film delivers an inspired, worthy addition for those (include me) who thoroughly enjoy this kind of unbridled goofiness. “The Naked Gun” is entertaining audiences at cinemas now.