I remember watching the Airplane and Naked Gun films as a kid on HBO, laughing my head off every time I watched them. And I would catch even more jokes on every rewatch. They were jam-packed with gags, some right in your face, others tucked away in the background. And at the center of it all was Leslie Nielsen, in perfect deadpan mode as Lieutenant Frank Drebin. Before his pivot to comedy, Nielsen was known for serious, dramatic roles, which made his straight-faced delivery even funnier.
So, when it was announced that Liam Neeson would star in the reboot as Drebin Jr., Frank’s son, I was pleasantly surprised. And honestly he nails it.
The story is pretty simple: Drebin Jr. is kicked off Police Squad for being a little too aggressive while trying to solve a case. But like in every good cop movie, he doesn’t let that stop him. He soon teams up with the victim’s sister Beth, played by a perfectly cast Pamela Anderson, to crack the case. Standing in their way is Richard Cane (Danny Huston), an Elon Musk-type billionaire doing everything he can to stop them.
What makes this work is that Neeson, Anderson, and the rest of the cast never wink at the camera. They play it all completely straight, no mugging, no self-awareness. That’s the brilliance of this kind of comedy. From the opening minutes to the very end, the film delivers almost non-stop laughs. Even when the dialogue isn’t landing, there’s usually something ridiculous happening in the background that’ll catch you off guard and get a laugh.
The film doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but it doesn’t need to. It totally captures the zany, rapid-fire energy of the original, and Neeson is a perfect fit.
Anderson, coming off her standout turn in The Last Showgirl, continues to impress. She’s getting roles now that she probably wouldn’t have even been considered for a few years ago, and she matches Neeson’s deadpan energy beat for beat. The two of them together are surprisingly great.
Paul Walter Hauser shows up as the son of original Naked Gun cast member George Kennedy, and like always, he’s terrific. I just wish he had a bit more to do.
The film is directed by Akiva Schaffer, one-third of The Lonely Island and a strong comedy director in his own right. He keeps the jokes coming fast, it’s literally bit after bit after bit.
There haven‘t been a lot of flat-out comedies in theaters lately, and we need more of them. With everything going on in the world right now, movies like this are exactly the kind of joyful escape we need.
