The Naked Gun

Directed by Akiva Schaffer, The Naked Gun follows Liam Neeson’s Frank Drebin Jr. as he attempts to prevent a billionaire (Danny Huston’s Richard Cane) from executing a diabolical, world-ending scheme. Filmmaker Schaffer, armed with a script written alongside Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, does an effective job of establishing the picture’s spoof-forward, gag-heavy atmosphere, as The Naked Gun kicks off with a promising opening stretch that benefits from Neeson’s committed performance and a smattering of chuckle-worthy jokes and comedic set-pieces – with the agreeable atmosphere perpetuated by a first-class supporting cast that includes Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, and Kevin Durand. (Pamela Anderson, cast as Frank’s love interest, proves unable to seamlessly step into the movie’s deadpan universe, unfortunately.) It’s disappointing to note, then, that The Naked Gun slowly-but-surely begins to palpably run out of steam as it moves into its sluggish midsection and second half, as Schaffer places an entirely needless emphasis on complicated, convoluted plot developments that become less and less interesting (and more and more tedious) as the film progresses – which, when coupled with bizarre lack of laughs and a fairly interminable action-centric climax, ultimately does cement the movie’s place as a disappointing sequel that fares demonstrably worse than its three predecessors.

** out of ****