“THE NAKED GUN” - REVIEW
In the land of comedy, there are two types of fans: those who love the comedy stylings of ZAZ, and those who are wrong.
ZAZ is the abbreviation for the filmmaking trio of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker, made up of brothers David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams, who started with their Kentucky Fried Theater sketch troupe. This gave way to their 1977 cult classic KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE, a sketch movie which was also the breakthrough feature of director John Landis. What they lacked in budget and finesse they made up for with nonstop zany, tasteless laughs (with some bits aging better than others). A few years later, ZAZ was given the greenlight by Paramount Pictures to parody of AIRPORT ‘77 with AIRPLANE!, one of the single funniest movies of all-time (I can only watch this movie alone, because the sounds of the laughter that this movie pulls out of me is embarrassing). There is a joke every five seconds, and the fact that most of them hit their targets is something to behold. The beauty of their humor at its best is that if you miss a joke from laughing too hard at the previous one, you will catch it on the next viewing… and have the same problem all over again.
ZAZ made more films together—1984’s underrated TOP SECRET! and 1986’s RUTHLESS PEOPLE (which they did not write)—and separately. Jerry branched out into drama with 1990’s megahit GHOST and 1995’s FIRST KNIGHT before returning to comedy with 2001’s RAT RACE (a take on IT’S A MAD, MAD, MAD, MAD WORLD). The late Jim Abrahams dipped his toe into more conventional comedic fare with 1988’s BIG BUSINESS and 1990’s WELCOME HOME, ROXY CARMICHAEL before going back to zanytown with a TOP GUN parody (1991’s HOT SHOTS!), a RAMBO parody (1993’s HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX, one of my favorites) and a GODFATHER parody in 1998 called MAFIA! (I wish they had kept the original title, which was JANE AUSTEN’S MAFIA! which will just take too long to explain here). Only David fully remained in this special comedy sandbox, with 1996’s HIGH SCHOOL HIGH, 1998’s BASEKETBALL (another personal favorite, starring SOUTH PARK creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone) and 2003’s MY BOSS’S DAUGHTER before taking over the SCARY MOVIE franchise.
While there have been many attempts at this type of lunacy on the big screen (the Wayans Brothers movies, the Phil Lord/Christopher Miller movies) and on the small screen (ANGIE TRIBECA) in fits and starts over the years with mixed results, only ZAZ fully cracked the code on this distinct comedy style, by fully understanding the genre they were satirizing, by keeping the periphery littered with sight gags and the dialogue ridiculous, by keeping the performances and line deliveries dead serious, and by never stopping the flurry of jokes. It is probably best known as NAKED GUN humor (I was getting to it).
1988’s THE NAKED GUN: FROM THE FILES OF POLICE SQUAD! was perhaps the last full collaboration of ZAZ (directed by David, written by ZAZ and fellow Minnesotan Pat Proft), and arguably their most enduring work (based on their 1982 TV series POLICE SQUAD!, which ran only six perfect episodes). For many people my age, this was a big introduction to comedy, so when I heard that this was to be remade, I got a lump in my throat. How would they revive something in which the performers involved were so ingrained in the execution and success of the original (and how dare they?!)?
But then: Liam Neeson.
The original franchise wrapped up in 1994 with NAKED GUN 33 1/3: THE FINAL INSULT, the climax of which featured a terrorist threat at the Academy Awards, and was incidentally released on the same weekend that the real Academy Awards were swept by Steven Spielberg’s SCHINDLER’S LIST, the film that truly introduced the world to Liam Neeson. Following that towering performance, it would be highly unlikely for most of Neeson’s career to expect him to ever appear in a broad comedy, but during his extended renaissance as an action star which started with the movie TAKEN, he has been given opportunities for inspired moments of off-handed hilarity, starting with Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant’s LIFE’S TOO SHORT (look it up, and be warned: most of what he says is not suitable for print here). Popping up in bits here and there, Neeson has worked with producer Seth MacFarlane a number of times on FAMILY GUY and in A MILLION WAYS TO DIE IN THE WEST, culminating in his priceless cameo in (and highlight of) TED 2 as the world’s most intensely paranoid grocery shopper for children’s breakfast cereal, while doing absolutely nothing that he wouldn’t do in one of his action or drama films (this could have been his NAKED GUN audition tape). These small moments play on the fact that it’s Liam Neeson to provide most of the laughs, so would casting him in the lead be too much of a good thing? Can he carry a whole comedy of this style on his back in an era in which big-screen comedies have been on life support?
Yes he can, and THANK GOD. Neeson tears into the role of Lt. Frank Drebin, Jr. (the son of Nielsen’s iconic character) with zeal. His performance style and angular facial features reminded me less of Nielsen’s flat, matter-of-fact delivery and more of another ZAZ alum, the great Lloyd Bridges. ZAZ and Bridges (also the father of Jeff and Beau Bridges) worked together on AIRPLANE! (“I picked the wrong week to quit sniffing glue”), the HOTS SHOTS! movies and MAFIA! (his final film), and he struck the perfect balance of playing it mostly straight while accentuating bigger emotions or moments in which his character gets carried away. Neeson is having so much fun roughing up his action film persona, and the rest of the cast matches him punch for punch.
Whereas the original trilogy was a take on hard-boiled police procedurals, this one blends high-octane crime saga/thrillers into its detective noir with a story in which the future of LAPD’s Police Squad division hangs in the balance, largely due to Drebin’s recklessness. Surviving on a never-ending supply of coffee wherever he shows up, Drebin and his partner Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser, also currently in THE FANTASTIC FOUR: FIRST STEPS, getting some great moments of Farleyesque physical comedy) investigate a murder which brings Drebin into the orbit of tech tycoon Richard Cane (Danny Huston, best known as being the son of the legendary John Huston and slowly becoming his formidable father with every day that passes), and the mysterious Beth Davenport, a writer who writes “true crime novels based on stories that I make up,” and who opens up Drebin to the possibility of love. Beth is played by Pamela Anderson, fresh off of her award-season turn in THE LAST SHOWGIRL, having an absolute ball playing Drebin’s love interest and scat-singing femme fatale. Rounding out the principal cast is veteran authority figure CCH Pounder (THE SHIELD) as the hard-nosed chief of Police Squad, the prolific Kevin Durand putting a comedic spin on his usual TV/film heavy as Cane’s right hand man, and the charming Liza Koshy (TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS) as another Police Squad detective trying to make a name for herself.
It’s clear from their previous work that producer Seth MacFarlane (FAMILY GUY) and director Akiva Schaffer (Lonely Island, HOT ROD, POPSTAR: NEVER STOP NEVER STOPPING) deeply love THE NAKED GUN, and they protect what we love about it too. They successfully run the ZAZ humor playbook (from a script by director Schaffer and his CHIP ’N DALE: RESCUE RANGERS screenwriters Dan Gregor and Doug Mand) with nearly nonstop gags over the film’s breezy 85-minute runtime, blending in their individual styles of humor without either filmmaker’s penchant for going too far beyond its PG-13 rating into Lonely Island-level of vulgarity or FAMILY GUY mean-spiritedness. There are some great callbacks to the original series, and while the energy sags a little in the second half of the film, “the new version” overall is a raucously entertaining triumph in its own right, and one that demands to be experienced with a sold-out movie theater audience.
THE NAKED GUN opens in theaters everywhere Thursday night. Please pack the houses for this one. It’s been a long drought for big studio comedies, and this one will quench your thirst like a blast from a firehose.
(And while you’re at it, go down a ZAZ rabbit hole. You’ll come back up with a smile on your face and sore ribs).
#PaulWalterHauser
#CCHPounder
#DannyHuston
#KevinDurand
#LizaKoshy
#SethMacFarlane
#paramountpictures
#DougMand
#DanGregor
#mncritics
#comedy
#actioncomedy
#spoof
#policesquad
Other links:
#Davidzucker
#jerryzucker
#jimabrahams
#patproft
#stevenspielberg
#rickygervais
#stephenmerchant
#johnlandis
#kentuckyfriedmovie
#fantasticfourfirststeps
#airplane
#topsecret
#hotshots
#hotshotspartdeux
#mafia
#hotrod
#popstarneverstopneverstopping
#lonelyisland
#lifestooshort
#taken
#lloydbridges
#jeffbridges
#leslienielsen
#angietribeca
Zach is a proud member of the Minnesota Film Critics Association (MNFCA). For more info about Zach, the organization, or to read other great reviews from other great Minnesota-based film critics, click here: https://mnfilmcriticalliance.wordpress.com/