The Naked Gun (2025)

 

A new month and another trip to my local movie theater to check out one of this week’s newest release, The Naked Gun (2025).  Based on the beloved 1982 television series Police Squad that spawned the trilogy of late 80s early 90s films starring Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin, The Naked Gun (2025) looks to bring this brand of ridiculous over the top comedy to a newer generation. Having grown up watch the series and the films with my dad, I’d been stoked to see what kind of spin writer/director Akiva Schaffer, writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, and producer Seth MacFarlane would put on the franchise.

Without a doubt the best part of The Naked Gun (2025) is casting Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin, Jr. He leans into the role and is the perfect actor to inherit/inhabit the legacy established by Nielsen. The surrounding cast of Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, and CCH Pounder also came to gamely play. I wish that Kevin Durand was better utilized, but what we were given works so I’m not too upset about that.

As for the rest of the film, I hate to say I was left underwhelmed. 

All the pieces are there but they just don’t quite fit together and deliver the movie experience it should, or I hoped for. The script is fine, borrows from Kingsman Secret Service. Good music. Solid direction. Fun cameos, and the expected gags in a Naked Gun film.

The real problems, however, start with the pacing. With a running time of an hour twenty-five minutes The Naked Gun (2025) feels much longer. And that’s due to the largest problem I had with the film. 

The humor. 

I have a pretty great and broad sense of humor but in this comedy only about fifty to sixty percent of the jokes land. And of those there’s only a handful of laugh-out-loud moments sprinkled among the slightly amused to appreciative chuckle moments. When the humor lands, it slaps hard, but it’s not nearly enough to overcome the prevailing flatness this comedy delivers. 

A real let down for sure. I wanted a consistent comedy at the least and a laugh riot at best. Instead, I got a glimpse of what could’ve been.  There are little sparks of greatness but no real fire. A shiny example of “close, but no cigar.” 

It pains me to say for me The Naked Gun (2025) is a big swing that unfortunately misses.

The Naked Gun (2025) gets a paltry 5.5 from me.

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