In a cinematic landscape increasingly dominated by big-budget algorithm-driven content, The Naked Gun (2025) arrives as both throwback and revelation—a clever spoof that understands the sacred geometry of the perfect gag while expanding its scope beyond police procedurals. Released in the same week as Happy Gilmore 2 on Netflix, it’s remarkable that this theatrical comedy wasn’t condemned to the same straight-to-streaming, flavor-of-the-week fate. Instead, The Naked Gun demands the communal experience of a packed theater, where this comedy reclaims its rightful place on the big screen.
One of the best things going for The Naked Gun is its credentials. Director Akiva Schaffer brings impeccable comedy experience to this project: as one-third of The Lonely Island, Schaffer’s resume includes a slew of writing and directing gigs for shows like Saturday Night Live and I Think You Should Leave. His understanding of both parody and timing serves the franchise perfectly here. And given the viral moments they’re having for their off-screen chemistry, it’s unlikely anyone could forget to credit Liam Neeson or Pamela Anderson. Neeson, channeling his post-Taken persona through the lens of Frank Drebin Jr., delivers each deadpan line in a way that honors and embraces Leslie Nielsen’s original portrayal of the overly-literal detective. Anderson, meanwhile, feels like she’s finally getting the against-type casting that she deserves for her comeback.
Good casting and fun press tours aren’t enough to make a movie shine, though – which is where the script comes in. The narrative of The Naked Gun centers on Frank Drebin Jr.’s investigation into the suspicious death of a tech engineer, which leads him into the web of Richard Cane (Danny Huston), a megalomaniacal billionaire whose sinister P.L.O.T. Device threatens to reduce humanity to its most primitive instincts. But plot description misses the point entirely. Like its predecessors, this Naked Gun uses story as scaffolding for elaborate joke construction. Where the original trilogy spoofed the police procedurals and crime thrillers of its era, this iteration broadens its scope. The Naked Gun doubles down on the zippy one-liners and wordplay that made the originals sing, but Schaffer wisely recognizes that modern audiences arrive with different cinematic vocabularies. The result is a comedy that raids the visual language of contemporary blockbusters: Mission: Impossible set pieces filtered through The Dark Knight‘s operatic sensibilities, all underscored by a Hans Zimmer-esque score that treats each ridiculous moment with symphonic gravitas.
Does every joke land? Of course not. But the hit-to-miss ratio here is remarkably high, and the film’s 85-minute runtime proves its greatest strength.
The Naked Gun succeeds because it recognizes that the best comedy adapts rather than simply repeats. This is the rare legacy sequel that justifies its existence not through nostalgia or name recognition, but through genuine innovation: taking the DNA of the originals and finding fresh targets worthy of satirical destruction. In a marketplace increasingly dominated by “clever quip” content designed to offend no one, Schaffer’s film feels almost radical in its commitment to pure, unapologetic laughter. It’s proof that some franchises are worth reviving, especially when the project is undertaken with such clear admiration for its predecessor.