Some movies arrive like ghosts from another era.
The Naked Gun, back on screens after 33 years of silence, doesn't just resurrect a franchise—it revives a genre Hollywood left for dead.
The reboot, premiering officially in theaters on August 1, 2025, had its first outing with select audiences this past week in New York. And while most modern comedy franchises play it safe—churning out IP-flavored quips and algorithm-friendly setups—this one barrels in with slapstick gags, groan-worthy puns, and more banana-peel absurdity than we've seen since the Scary Movie sequels forgot how to blink.
Yes, it's that kind of movie. And according to early viewers? It works.
A Genre That Refuses to Die
Comedy today is built on cringe, discomfort, and irony. But The Naked Gun throws it back—way back—to the golden era of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker absurdism. It's not afraid to be dumb. It's too busy being funny.
And that's a risk.
We're talking about a genre that's been commercially irrelevant for over a decade. Studios shelved this kind of humor because nobody was greenlighting $40M comedies stuffed with whoopee cushions and baseball bat mishaps in the streaming age. So when Paramount confirmed production last year, most insiders shrugged—or winced. Another IP reboot, another case of creative bankruptcy.
But here's the thing: this reboot isn't hollow nostalgia. It's fully committed lunacy.
Liam Neeson, of all people, plays Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., and yes, that sentence reads like a Mad Lib. The man who growled through Taken and brooded in Silence now gets to pratfall his way through exploding urinals and mangled metaphors. And somehow… it lands.
One early viewer wrote on X (formerly Twitter):
“The new NAKED GUN has the highest joke-to-minute ratio since JACKASS FOREVER. It's a miracle this kind of movie still gets made.”
That's not just praise—it's an indictment of what the modern comedy landscape lacks.
The Neeson-Anderson Pivot
This is Neeson as you've never seen him—though he once told GQ in 2021 he'd “do comedy if the script didn't insult [his] intelligence.” Seems like he found one.
But another name generating buzz is Pamela Anderson, in what could be described as the least exploitative comeback of her career. After Pam & Tommy repackaged her trauma for prestige drama points, The Naked Gun lets her… well, be funny. Not as a punchline, but as a player in the chaos. One fan summed it up nicely:
“Really clever and very self-aware… One of Liam Neeson's best performances in so long. Loved Pamela Anderson here too.”
You can't fake chemistry like this. Or timing. Or the audacity to revive a franchise that peaked when George H. W. Bush was president.
Does Spoof Still Sell?
Let's be honest: this movie probably won't crack $300M. It's not Deadpool. And that's okay.
As one fan dryly noted:
“It will probably make like five dollars total, but I was howling with laughter.”
That may be the film's biggest uphill battle. In an industry driven by global four-quadrant tentpoles and cautious studio boards, where does something this goofy—even if it's brilliant—fit?
Comedy is no longer communal; it's sliced into TikToks, flattened for streaming, or buried under ironic detachment. And here comes The Naked Gun, unironically slipping on banana peels and firing off 30 jokes per minute. It doesn't just defy modern comedy trends—it steamrolls them in a golf cart chase gone wrong.
From Police Squad! to the Present
Let's not forget the DNA. The Naked Gun was born from 1982's Police Squad!, the cult TV show that birthed Leslie Nielsen's deadpan brilliance. It was dumb humor made smartly. And this reboot honors that legacy without clinging to it.
That's the real surprise here: it's not just homage. It's evolution. Or at least, resistance.
A fan who caught the premiere noted:
“Full of delightfully silly, scorching gags that retain a 90's energy and incorporate modern critiques.”
In 2025, that balance is harder to achieve than any FX-heavy stunt. And the fact that The Naked Gun manages it suggests something hopeful: maybe, just maybe, audiences still want to laugh together—not just behind their phones.
Final Shot
Will it break box office records? Probably not.
Will it win over Gen Z? Unclear.
But will it be one of the funniest things to hit theaters this year?
Quite possibly.
And in a summer bloated with CG cities collapsing and franchises eating their own tails, that's worth something.
Let's see if the box office agrees come August 1, 2025.
Until then, keep your banana peels handy.
What risks or benefits come with using exaggerated comedy instead of more subtle, “safe” humor?