It’s not hyperbole to say that the comedy genre in theaters is on life support. After a couple of decades of comedies doing big numbers at the box office, studios have seemed to think that streaming is a better place for comedies. Well, there’s nothing that replicates that feeling of laughing alongside a crowded theater of people, even at home. Luckily for us, The Naked Gun is here to try to revitalize the comedy genre in theaters.

The Naked Gun comes from director Akiva Schaffer and writers Dan Gregor, Doug Mand, and Schaffer. It’s a “legacy sequel” to the original series, but those legacy elements are played more for laughs than anything really relating to the plot. The original series starred Leslie Nielsen as Frank Dreben and the new film stars Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr.. It also features Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Liza Koshy, and has cameos from Cody Rhodes and Busta Rhymes.

What makes this version of The Naked Gun work so well? Well, there’s plenty of factors, but the most important is that it’s not tethering itself to the previous entries in the series. There’s plenty of nostalgia here, but it’s a nostalgic feeling for comedies of old, not specific plotlines or characters from the Naked Gun series. Neeson’s character could have been named anything, but it’s the jokes that unfold from him being Frank Dreben Jr. that are important, not the actual name.

So let’s dive into the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly of The Naked Gun.

The Good Of The Naked Gun

The jokes are a mile a minute in The Naked Gun. If you wanted to laugh, you will 100% laugh during this movie. There are absurd jokes, straight-forward jokes, jokes in the background, visual jokes, physical gags, and Liam Neeson just straight up making a fool out of himself. There are sexually suggestive jokes in the film, but it never outright verges into full-on expletive-laden humor. That, at the heart of the film, is what makes this so special. People of all ages are going to find something funny here. There are so many jokes that I missed some of them in the screening because the audience was laughing so hard and so loudly. This is the type of comedy that you’ll notice small things in the background that you missed after rewatching.

Liam Neeson goes into overdrive here, not only lampooning his own movies but also straight-up providing the backbone for all the comedy in the film. This required an actor to go all-in on their performance, and he did it. Pamela Anderson also goes all-in for the performance, and she is equally as hilarious and important to the humor as Neeson is.

More Good Of The Naked Gun

The most refreshing part of The Naked Gun is the humor, the second most refreshing part is that it is shot and lit like an actual movie. This trend of movies lighting outdoor scenes poorly should get shot into the sun, but this film lights like a MOVIE would. Lighting doesn’t have to be realistic, we’re watching a movie. The shot composition in the film is also stunning for a comedy like this, with sweeping shots of Los Angeles, and particularly nostalgic framing of Pamela Anderson’s character Beth Davenport.

The commentary and jokes in The Naked Gun feel topical, but they also feel timeless. We’ve always had tech guys or captains of industry who think they’re the savior of humanity, and the villain for the film, Richard Cane (played by Danny Huston), particularly skewers tech bros.

The Naked Gun also doesn’t overstay its welcome. The movie comes in at 1 hour and 25 minutes and that runtime is absolutely packed with jokes. The movie gets you in, makes you laugh, and then gets you out. The word refreshing keeps coming up for me, and that’s the best thing I can describe the film as, it’s a refreshing blast of comedic air.

Is There Any Ugly In The Naked Gun?

The only thing I can see someone coming out of The Naked Gun and not enjoying is that some of the jokes won’t land for them. That’s about it. It has modern and older comedic sensibilities, all wrapped up into one tight package (pun intended). The film is uproariously hilarious. There’s humor here to make anyone laugh until they cry. It is wonderful to see a comedy like this coming back to theaters.

There isn’t a savior for comedy in theaters; it’s going to take concerted effort on studios’ and audiences’ parts, but The Naked Gun is an excellent start to bring back laughter to movie theaters.

The Naked Gun releases in theaters on August 1st, 2025.

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