The straight man of cinematic franchises, \u201cThe Naked Gun,\u201d is pratfalling back into theaters. Satirizing police procedurals, William \u201cLiam\u201d Neeson as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. avoids the stale nostalgia of Hollywood\u2019s endless reboots, reimaginings, and remakes to deliver fresh laughs straight through the post-credit scene.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The late actor, Leslie Nielsen, played Lt. Frank Drebin Sr. on TV and in three \u201cNaked Gun\u201d films, making comparisons inevitable. \u201cI want to be just like you,\u201d the younger Drebin tells a picture of his father, \u201cbut at the same time, completely different and original.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a paradox upon which \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d delivers. The movie has a timeless feeling with no divisive, dated politics. There\u2019s only a wink to the audience about the fate of its original cast member, O.J. Simpson, and the comedian Bill Cosby. Elon Musk is parodied, but without malice.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Drebin calls the villain, Danny Huston\u2019s Richard Cane, \u201cthe genius who\u2019s going to save the world with his electric cars.\u201d Cane is another contradiction. He\u2019s memorable despite being, by design, a caricature, right down to his MacGuffin: \u201cThe Primordial Law of Toughness\u201d or \u201cP.L.O.T.\u201d Device.<\/p>\n
Like Nielsen, Mr. Neeson built his career playing serious roles and black hats. It makes his jokes based on misunderstanding words \u2014 \u201cfoul\u201d for \u201cfowl\u201d and the like \u2014 hit square on the funny bone because it\u2019s so different from what audiences expect from a serious actor.<\/p>\n
\u201cComics are dime a dozen,\u201d Lou Costello said in 1936, \u201cbut a good straight man is hard to find.\u201d Although more famous, the comic insisted on a 60\/40 split in favor of his partner, Bud Abbott. At 73, Mr. Neeson is aging out of action roles; \u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d may make him the next great \u201cstone face.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another worthy heir to Abbott, Paul Walter Hauser, plays Drebin\u2019s partner, Captain Ed Hocken Jr., son of George Kennedy\u2019s original. Called upon to endure physical abuse, he exercises a restraint that\u2019s rare in an era of over-the-top physical comedy.<\/p>\n
As Beth Davenport, Pamela Anderson also avoids the impulse to chew scenery or surrender to contemporary tropes that forbid damsels in distress. The \u201cBaywatch\u201d actress and Playboy\u2019s Miss February 1990, she brings confidence to \u201cThe Naked Gun,\u201d never forcing punchlines. At 58, she looks an age-appropriate blonde bombshell for Mr. Neeson to pursue.<\/p>\n
Carol Christine Hilaria \u201cCCP\u201d Pounder, a fixture in the crime genre, plays Police Squad\u2019s Chief Davis. She\u2019s world-weary and exasperated with Drebin\u2019s refusal to play by the rules. But with an absurd twist to her character\u2019s home life, those tired traits are tweaked for the sake of the farce.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d films are heir to TV\u2019s \u201cPolice Squad!\u201d, canceled in 1982 after six episodes. The show\u2019s humor relied heavily on sight gags that could be missed on 12-inch screens. High-definition, wall-sized televisions were sci-fi at the time, Ray Bradbury\u2019s 1953 novel, \u201cFahrenheit 451\u201d being the only place they were even imagined.<\/p>\n
In the DVD commentary for \u201cThe Naked Gun,\u201d Nielsen quoted the president of ABC entertainment, Tony Thomopoulos, as saying \u201cthe viewer had to watch\u201d the TV incarnation with care \u201cto appreciate it.\u201d That\u2019s why the team of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker \u2014 who went by ZAZ \u2014 planned a film before TV came calling.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Captive theater audiences were where \u201cThe Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!\u201d found success in 1988. Today, the distraction comes from \u201csecond screening\u201d on smartphones. But audiences will be riveted to the action and in their seats from the moment the lights dimmed, which helps keep them invested in the story.\u00a0<\/p>\n
This \u201cNaked Gun\u201d keeps audiences watching for the next subtle snicker by delivering all the jokes that will fit but not so many that they clutter the story. Look down at your phone and you might miss gems like \u201cThe PonziScheme.com Arena,\u201d a poke at the DotCom failures.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Naked Gun\u201d is what happens when clever people turn their talents to light-hearted entertainment, delivering humor that tickles without bruising. The film carries forward the legacy of previous \u201cPolice Squad!\u201d incarnations while being something original: A cinematic straight man that trusts audiences are smart enough to get the jokes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The straight man of cinematic franchises, \u201cThe Naked Gun,\u201d is pratfalling back into theaters. Satirizing police procedurals, William…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":55561,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[88,206],"class_list":["post-55560","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55560","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55560"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55560\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}