The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!

A strong candidate for the funniest movie ever made, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! follows Leslie Nielsen’s Frank Drebin as he sets out to foil an assassination attempt on Queen Elizabeth II’s life. It’s a fairly basic storyline that’s employed as a springboard for a seemingly relentless series of jokes and gags, as filmmaker David Zucker, working from a script written with Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Pat Proft, delivers a briskly-paced and consistently compelling comedy that hits far more than it misses – with the movie’s engrossing atmosphere certainly heightened by star Nielsen’s iconic turn as the captivatingly deadpan protagonist. (And this is to say nothing of the solid work from an eclectic supporting cast that includes Ricardo Montalban, George Kennedy, Priscilla Presley, and, yes, O.J. Simpson.) And while the continuing emphasis on hilarity over virtually all else does result in a very small handful of lulls, The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! is, by and large, an unusually effective spoof picture that’s generally funnier in its throwaway moments than most comedies are in their entirety.

***1/2 out of ****