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That Gun Ain’t the Only Thing Naked: Neeson & Co. in a Worthy Successor

Though not exactly a household name, the comedy team of Zucker, Abrahams and Zucker — colloquially shortened to ZAZ — seems to have perfected the spoof movie genre with their uproarious Airplane! (1980) and three successful Naked Gun movies (1988-94).

Wikipedia points out that spoofs had been around since the days of silent film, generated over the years by such revered figures as Buster Keaton, the Marx Brothers and of course, Mel Brooks. But the uniquely corny, guileless, deadpan humor of the ZAZ formula felt somehow iconic — and kinda unrepeatable.

Until now.

ZAZ was not involved in the brand-new Naked Gun reboot starring Liam Neeson; but the film nonetheless recaptures that team’s comedic glory: It is somehow almost mind-numbingly silly, yet at the same time, truly uproarious.

2025’s Naked Gun is more a sequel than a remake, with Neeson as the dim-witted supercop son of the similarly witless yet triumphant Frank Drebin — played by Leslie Nielsen in the original trilogy.

Neeson was certainly an inspired choice to fill Nielsen’s shoes.

The latter was “the Olivier of spoofs,” in the words of Roger Ebert; so it’s easy to forget that Nielsen got his start as a handsome leading man. He played, for example, Revolutionary War hero Francis Marion on TV — and a dashing, level-headed starship officer in my all-time favorite sci-fi movie, Forbidden Planet (1956). (And don’t forget, he was the captain in Poseidon Adventure too!)

But in Hollywood, serious actors often turn to comedy in their later years (see De Niro, Clooney, Carell, Emma Thompson; and the reverse is common too — as with Robin Williams, Bill Murray & Tom Hanks). So, tapping action-hero Neeson to play a parody of himself was the right decision; it’s amazing how smoothly this well-known tough guy makes the transition.

The key, of course, is that he has to look as menacing as ever, while undergoing shenanigans like being disguised as a winsome schoolgirl, or losing his pants while hanging upside-down inside a pair of balls — er, New Year’s Eve globes, to be exact. He can never realize or admit how dumb he looks; and of course, he also has to solve the mystery and beat the baddies.

Neeson is joined by Pamela Anderson as the sister of an early murder victim; Paul Walter Hauser plays the son of George Kennedy’s franchise character; and in the nemesis role we have Danny Huston — real-life son of legendary Hollywood director John Huston (and thus also half-brother to Angelica).

But much of the Naked credit goes to director and co-writer Akiva Schaffer, who got his start with SNL sketches and here maintains a hustling & hilarious pace (the film runs a breezy 85 minutes). For every joke that flops, three or four work wonderfully — though I must warn Webb readers that there’s some exceptionally crude humor. Flirting with an R-rating, a good deal of Naked Gun is totally unsuited to kids and families. (Personally, I could do without the X-ray-vision scene, which struck me as tasteless.)

On the upside, please do sit through the closing credits, where jokes are not merely inserted as clips or sounds, but actually written into the scrolls of jobs and names.

Now as I draw this encomium to a close, you may have noted that I didn’t talk about the plot, or trot out the funniest gags. That’s because I don’t want to spoil anything for prospective viewers; the jokes and surprises really deserve to work on their own.

Suffice it to say that, as with so many other reboots this summer (ahem, Superman, Fantastic Four), Gun will likely generate a bunch more sequels and maybe even spinoffs.

Let’s hope they’re half as funny as this.