In the background of a shot in the Police Squad headquarters, men emerge through a doorway marked “COLD CASES” from what appears to be a giant freezer. No character ever comments on it. This clever play on words has no immediate bearing on the scene. The sight gag exists for the delight of fully locked-in audiences, whether eagle-eyed first-time viewers or on their umpteenth rewatch. On its merits, Akiva Schaffer’s reboot of “The Naked Gun” series should certainly earn many devotees willing to keep looking for hidden jokes strewn throughout the movie.
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Schaffer delivers the funniest scripted studio comedy since … well, the last time he directed one in 2016’s “Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping.” Schaffer sleekly and efficiently builds gut-busting laughs into every scene of this tight 85-minute runtime, ensuring satisfaction from top to bottom. (Seriously, watch and read the credits for some of the best bits this side of “Monty Python.”)
“The Naked Gun” recaptures the magic of Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker’s original trilogy most crucially by nailing their unique alchemy of witty and silly humor. The franchise has always been able to operate across multiple comedic registers effectively, and Schaffer’s take honors their legacy. Without pandering to sophomoric sensibilities, he seizes every opportunity to be both shrewd and stupid—often in the same shot.
The key to the film working so well is its grounding in specificity. Beginning with an homage to the opening bank heist of “The Dark Knight,” a blockbuster released 17 years ago, might initially strike as an odd and dated choice. But once it becomes evident that Schaffer is committing so deeply to this tribute, down to location scouting and color grading, the scene transcends the obvious impulse of flattering fans who can appreciate a reference.
Schaffer sidesteps the traps that drove the cinematic spoof into the ground after “Scary Movie.” Mocking topical genre hits makes better fodder for awards show opening pre-tapes, not the silver screen. The script, which Schaffer co-wrote with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, even avoids playing with the low-hanging fruit from the iconography of stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson.
“The Naked Gun” is not a parody of any specific police films, which would then limit its appeal. It’s a parody of the idea of police films, ginning up chuckles and belly laughs alike from broadly recognizable tropes. Schaffer and gang also manage to locate tropes that don’t even feel widely known as such, like the way cops always seem to be receiving and immediately discarding disposable coffee cups.
Droll observations like these, usually accompanied by a perfect deadpan line reading by Neeson’s Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., keep the film operating at a consistent hum of chortles throughout. If the film has any blemishes, it’s that some of the more extended set pieces wear out their welcome a smidge. “The Naked Gun” movies have always been at their best when delivering quick jokes but with depth or edge, two things that simply extending the length of a sequence does not necessarily provide.
Schaffer does manage to thread the needle on one crucial recurring punchline throughout the film. “The Naked Gun” demonstrates a reflective but ribald outlook on what it means to make a comedy about the police, five years after George Floyd’s murder changed America’s relationship to the institution. The film does not shy away from discussing police brutality, and it raises the conversation in a way that makes Drebin and his ilk the butt of the joke. It’s the officers, not the victims, who are made to bear the sting of an audience’s laughter on such topics as body cameras, excessive force, and coerced confessions.
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Thus far, this review has not even touched on the plot of “The Naked Gun.” That’s not to say there isn’t one, but it’s mostly immaterial to the proceedings. (The MacGuffin introduced in the film’s opening heist is quite literally called the “PLOT Device,” after all.) This technical tool provides some nominal tension in the narrative between Drebin and Danny Huston’s tech billionaire Richard Cane, a seeming amalgamation of Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. However, some additional friction, too, derives from Anderson’s blonde bombshell and femme fatale Beth Davenport trying to get what she wants from both men.
But the irresistible forward momentum of “The Naked Gun” arises independently of any traditional storytelling mechanism. With an eye for staging and composition as well as an ear for absurd dialogue, Schaffer brings boundless energy to bear that proves electric and infectious to watch unfold. The film never lets off the gas for a second, jolting a dormant franchise back to life—and, hopefully, the entire practice of theatrically-released studio comedies along with it. [A-]
“The Naked Gun” opens in theaters on Friday, August 1.