- Starring
- Liam Neeson, Paul Walter Hauser, Pamela Anderson
- Director
- Akiva Schaffer
- Rating
- Not Yet Rated
- Genre
- Action, Comedy, Crime
- Release date
- August 1, 2025
Overall Score
Rating Overview
Rating Summary
In The Naked Gun (2025), Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., a bumbling yet well-meaning cop, leads the Los Angeles Police Squad to prevent its shutdown. Tasked with solving the murder of a software engineer, deemed a suicide, Drebin uncovers a larger scheme involving a stolen gadget, the P.L.O.T. Device, orchestrated by tech mogul Richard Cane to create global chaos. Alongside his partner Ed Hocken Jr. and femme fatale Beth Davenport, Drebin navigates absurd situations and bank robberies, relying on his unorthodox skills to save the day.
The Naked Gun Review
The Naked Gun films have never exactly been examples of intricate and complex storytelling. Rather, they’ve relied on Ariana Grande-thin narratives with just enough connective tissue to hold things together while they fed audiences a steady diet of gags. In that respect, 2025’s attempt at a soft reboot of the series sticks to the formula.
Unfortunately, they missed the two most essential components that made the others, especially the 1988 original, so side-splittingly funny—the chemistry and the humor. It’s not that the film is completely without its fun moments. It’s consistently slightly amusing.
That said, with very, very, VERY few exceptions, the gags feel half-hearted and quickly run out of gas–oddly seeming as though the writers gave up before landing the coup de grace— and the performances, across the board, are lacking even more. Liam Neeson as Frank Drebin Jr. is one of the most miscast actors of all time. With Seth MacFarlane as one of the producers, no doubt Neeson was chosen, at least partially, thanks to his cameo in Ted 2, in which he played a paranoid and overly serious grocery store patron who thought that Trix might actually only be for kids.
Clearly, successfully carrying off one funny bit and being able to play a stoic character does not translate to having anything remotely close to the comedic timing and instincts of the brilliant Leslie Neelson. Neeson isn’t even terrible in the role; he’s just lacking that special spark. It’s a shame, because Pamela Anderson occasionally shows hints that she could have better pulled off her role had she had a stronger leading man and a better script to work with.
In fairness, there are a handful of funny moments in the film: an extended scene involving a possessed snowman, a recurring beverage gag, and one or two laughs garnered from some very low-hanging fruit. Yet with Neeson setting the tone and only those few bits that truly work, it’s no wonder that this iteration of The Naked Gun is barely worthy of checking out once it reaches one of your preferred streaming services.
Do yourself a favor. Save the money and stream the original on Paramount+.
WOKE REPORT
Irony
- Arguably, the film’s biggest laugh comes from a joke about how cops mistreat black people. I didn’t ding the Woke-O-Meter much because it did its job and was genuinely funny. I can’t get into it without spoiling the joke, so you’ll just have to trust me on this one.
Cop Lives Matter
- George Kennedy played the captain in the original series, but in this installment, a black female character runs the precinct. It isn’t a true reboot, though—it’s a sequel with an all-new cast, so there’s no race or gender swapping of legacy characters. For example, Frank Sr.’s partner was black, while Junior’s is white. The Naked Gun franchise has always thrived on satire. Where past tropes leaned on the aging white blowhard or the grizzled black sergeant who barked orders, today’s common trope is the no-nonsense black woman in charge. Playing with that setup fits the series’ style—it just doesn’t land here comedically.
- Ultimately, the above is my justification for not dinging the Woke-O-Meter.
James Carrick
James Carrick is a passionate film enthusiast with a degree in theater and philosophy. James approaches dramatic criticism from a philosophic foundation grounded in aesthetics and ethics, offering insight and analysis that reveals layers of cinematic narrative with a touch of irreverence and a dash of snark.
7 comments
Mileos4
August 6, 2025 at 5:52 pm
I think this is the funniest movie I’ve seen in theaters in YEARS. There is an all time low of comedies coming out each year and well over half the jokes in this movie connected with me (especially the shadows through the binoculars bit inspired by Austin Powers.) The comedies everyone thinks about when they think of their favorites are usually from the 80s, 90s, and 2000s not just because of “woke” but because there aren’t as many ever since the later parody movies failed, the later Will Ferrell comedies began to be duds, Sandler’s schtick got old in the mid-2010s, and other genres (superheroes and action/adventure) experienced a financial renaissance.
So in my opinion, this movie is very much worth a watch an even more so, a watch in theaters so you can experience laughter with a crowd again.
Also, I think the racial cop joke was far from the biggest laugh, but maybe in your theater on the day you saw it, it was.
CoffeeMe
August 9, 2025 at 5:42 pm
Just finished it. Loved it. I agree it wasn’t as good as the original, and Neeson has trouble threading the needle of tough but lovable, but it still cracked me up all throughout. The sequence with the body cam had me in tears.
Scully
August 10, 2025 at 10:50 am
Disrespects leslie Nelson. That chapter of quality films should of died with him. It’s his films. Yet another lazy hollywood attempt at making movies. Rehash, rehash, rehash.. Pathetic
tullsagra_simon
September 2, 2025 at 7:13 pm
No woke elements? The police chief on the Police Squad is now a fat black woman, and the “hot babe” everybody gushes over is played by 58 year old grandma Pamela Anderson. And I’ve only watched 15 minutes into the movie. When people are paying for your content here, at least don’t sleep through the movie.
James Carrick
September 2, 2025 at 11:19 pm
Hyperbole aside, I didn’t mark it down because this isn’t a true reboot, but an original story with all new characters. Therefore, they didn’t swap an existing white male character for a black female one, and simply having black people or women in a film doesn’t make something woke. Heck, in this Frank Drebon Jr.’s partner is now a white guy, where Sr.’s was played by a very black O.J. Simpson. Secondly, since this is satire/parody, making fun of the new trope of almost always having a fat black female in charge seemed appropriate.
As far as Pamala Anderson being 58, you’ll have to explain to me what makes that woke. Pricilla Presley was 43 and Leslie Nielsen 62 when the original was released, giving them a 19 year age difference. However, Liam Neeson and Pam Anderson have a 15 year gap, which is pretty darn close to the same.
We have to be careful not to become one of the Left’s favorite memes, extolling everything that we don’t like or agree with to be woke.
Next, I’ll never admit to being anything less than a mortal man with a mortal man’s failings and, while it’s arguable that I should have included something about the black female captain in the Woke Elements section, now that we’ve changed it to the more comprehensive Woke Report, those items will be added, if only to explain like I did in this reply the reason why we didn’t mark the Woke-O-Meter down for something. Also, the main reason that we keep the comments open is to provide viewers with the opportunity to mention something that we might have missed or something that we don’t necessarily think falls within woke parameters, but might still help our readers make an informed decision.
Finally, as a free member with a BASIC subscription yourself, you are perfectly aware that this review is not behind the paywall.
I hope that this makes some sense. Further, I hope that the next time that you register a comment, even if it is a complaint, you remember that we are on the same team. God bless.
PurpleSanz
September 3, 2025 at 3:38 pm
As a Leslie Nielsen and Liam Neeson hardcore fan, I wanted to love this, I really tried.
But no, it just doesn’t work. Absolutely nothing works in this movie:
– Almost every joke feels forced, which is a very bad start when the essence for these movies is random humor, clever word plays and stupidity.
– I love Neeson, but HE IS NOT FUNNY. The reason why Nielsen worked so well as a cop / detective / secret agent, etc., is because he looked nothing like those, just a regular soft clumsy old man that could easily be your grandpa. Neeson will always be a badass intimidating giant that will find you and kill you, which is NOT FUNNY.
– Nielsen also had this perfect gentleman formal voice, as if he were just living a normal life, fully unaware of all the crazy sh*t that was going on all around him. That was super funny! Neeson just sounds grumpy in comparison.
– Pamela Anderson looks INSANELY OLD, which instantly kills the recurring Nielsen joke of pairing him with sexy women who looked way too young for him, and immediately falling for him, of course.
– The owl scene… OH, MY GOSH… *Facepalm*
I think the only genuine laugh I had with this, was when he grabs and holds one of the bank robbers as a shield, and the guy is clearly a puppet. And the snowman scene made me say: “Ok… at least they kind of tried with this one”. Other than that… No, just no.
Even the subtle “…and where the hell was I?” joke from the original is funnier than any of the jokes from this movie.
AVOID.
Shelve3-Cushy0
October 2, 2025 at 8:50 pm
Wow, that was a scathing review. Maybe my standards are low and nostalgia played a factor, but my 70 y/o dad and I laughed our asses off at that film. The best part was the peace of mind of knowing in advance that there wouldn’t be any woke bullshit.