Naked Gun

By Joanna Langfield

Thanks, I needed that.

Firing on all cylinders, this giddy new chapter shoots for the comic moon. Maybe not all the zingers land, but maybe the audience was laughing so loud from the one before, I just couldn’t quite hear them! This is, indeed, comic relief.

Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson reveal their game sides, he, as Frank Drebin Jr, she as the femme with a flame, Beth. You don’t have to have seen any of the previous Naked Gun movies to get the story, which also adds to the fun. There’s no homework needed. You can sit back with your popcorn and just enjoy some terrific actors, making the most out of Akiva Schaffer’s slapsticky script.

Yes, the comedy here is not exactly Noel Coward. It shouldn’t be. But, in the vein of a Seth MacFarlane project (he is a producer on this), it is as truly funny as it is, occasionally, pointed. I laughed as much at some recurring coffee cups as I did at not just a great OJ Simpson joke but also an even sharper Bill Cosby one.

I’m always happy to see Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder and Danny Huston and I hope they get to do more next time. But it’s hard to take your eyes off of Neeson and Anderson, both of whom virtually reinvent themselves. Neeson adapts his signature gravity for Drebin. And it works because, like most great comic performances, he plays it straight, never winking, showing us he’s in on the joke. And what a treat it is to see Anderson, coming off of her impressive work in The Last Showgirl, nail every scene.

It’s been too long since we lol’ed this long and hard at a feature film. What a treat it is to do so now.