The Naked Gun, a reboot of the spoof police comedies from the 1980s and 1990s, has received glowing responses following early screenings, with many calling it one of the funniest films in years.
The new comedy sees Liam Neeson play the role of Frank Drebin Jr, the son of the lead character from the first three films and Police Squad TV show, played by Leslie Nielsen.
Pamela Anderson, Kevin Durand and Paul Walter Hauser all star in the film, which also features cameos from former UFC middleweight champion Michael Bisping and WWE wrestler Cody Rhodes.
Advanced screenings of the movie have prompted very positive responses, with some people claiming that it’s so funny it reduced them to tears.
David Ehrlich, film critic for IndieWire, said on X/Twitter: “There are like six different scenes in The Naked Gun that made me laugh so hard I cried. Even the title card is funny. I wrote ‘SO DUMB (complimentary)’ in my notebook several times.”
Dimitri Kraus, who writes for Movie Maker, praised the film for having the “highest joke-to-minute ratio since Jackass Forever,” and that it was a “small miracle that a movie like this exists in the current theatrical climate”.
YouTuber Sean Chandler said that the film is hilarious from beginning to end and that he even managed to miss several jokes because the “theatre was laughing too loud”.
Film critic David Gonzalez said that the film was “a breath of fresh air in modern comedy”, adding that “it follows the golden rule: be funny and get out while absolutely sticking the landing and credits.”
Meanwhile, critic Drew Magray wrote on Bluesky: “I’ll have a review later this week, but I went to a Naked Gun screening tonight and that s*** brought the whole house down.”
The Lonely Island alum Akiva Schaffer has directed the film, with Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane serving as producer. The script is by Dan Gregor, Doug Man and Schaffer, who collaborated on 2022’s popular Emmy-winning Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers.
The first Naked Gun film, released in 1988, was written and directed by Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and David Zucker, and was based on their television series Police Squad!. The show parodied the genre of police procedurals that were popular in the day. The original trilogy was hugely successful, making over $216m at the box office.
The Naked Gun will be released in cinemas on 1 August.
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