Liam Neeson takes on the role of lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr., son of lieutenant Frank Drebin senior, I guess, first played by Leslie Nielsen, and that's the films best joke- it's second best is how it never acknowledges it. The third is when junior disarms a robber with a finger gun, and so on. To review a film like this, listing out the jokes is pretty much all you can do.
The plot, if you can call it one, finds Frank hot on the trail of Richard Cane, played by Danny Huston, a rich tech mogul who wants to use some device (literally named p.l.o.t. device) to brainwash the entire world to their most primal instincts, essentially resetting humanity. Why? I'm assuming he has some kind of fantasy of being Tarzan or something, but the story in "The Naked Gun" doesn't matter; in fact as of the time of this review, it's Wikipedia page doesn't even have a "plot" section. Maybe that's really the third best joke? I dunno it's a toss up (I really like the finger gun bit).
Pamela Anderson stars as Beth Davenport, who's brother was found dead early on in the breezy runtime. She's convinced it's somehow related to Cane, and pairs up with Frank on solving the mystery. Of course, the real mystery is how it took until now for Hollywood to realize just how funny Anderson is at this sort of stuff. She makes for a great modernization of the Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley) character from the first three films. It takes a lot of courage and confidence to walk so blindly into a pole all in the name of laughs.
I read on the always-trusty interwebs that Ed Helms was originally tasked with playing the bumbling lieutenant Frank Drebin in an earleir, aborted effort at remaking the property. That would have been terrible, not because Mr. Helms is a bad guy, not that I've ever met him, just because he is no Leslie Nielsen.
Now Liam Neeson? That's about as close as you can get. And hes just great. He recites the most idiotic dialogue, fights the most ridiculous fights and does the most unbelievable things constantly, all while remaining his usual stoic self. He doesn't wink at the camera, let his lip curl even just a bit, as if he knows this is all a farce, and it's his commitment that sells the stupidity.
And boy is it stupid. The film is shockingly stupid, filled with all the puns, background gags and slapstick of the original trilogy, and while it loses some steam towards the end by leaning a bit too heavily on the slapstick, I laughed at lot, out loud and loudly. And if I wished I laughed more, that's only because I was growing restless waiting to laugh again, and then I would. Considering this genre essentially died with the third "Austin Powers" over two decades ago, the world of cinema is better for it. Now all that's left is to wait for "The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear Part 2½: The Fear of Smell."
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