Michael's Movie Grade: A
One of the funniest movies to come out in a very long time.
Oh, how I have missed this type of absurdist, abashedly silly and unashamedly stupid type of comedy. Though there have been comedies in recent years, comedies as silly and stupid as this have become all too rare today. I am happy to report that the new Naked Gun movie is not only as silly and dumb as you could hope but it is also laugh out loud funny. It has been a long time since I have laughed this much at a new movie. Yet this movie had me laughing from start to finish. There was a gag nearly every second of this wonderful movie and somehow most of them hit the bullseye.
As a major fan of the three preceding Naked Gun movies and the Police Squad TV show (which the movies were based off of), this felt perfectly in line with those comedy classics. In fact, if it wasn't for the different cast and some modern references (don't worry the filmmaker never overdo these) this could easily been mistaken for one of the Naked Gun movies from the 1980's and 90's. Director/co-writer Akiva Schaffer (whose directorial debut was the delightfully silly comedy Hot Rod (2007)) completely understands what made the previous movies and TV series so much fun and captures it perfectly here. He also understands that to a movie like this the comedic energy and the delivery are just as important if not more so than the gags themselves. Liam Neeson also perfectly understands the assignment. What made Leslie Neilsen, so perfect in previous entries in this franchise is that he had been a dramatic actor and played his role as Lieutenant Frank Drebin as if he was playing a dramatic role. Liam Neeson is an actor who is not especially known for comedy (though his cameo in Ted 2 (2015) was easily the funniest part of that film) and plays the role of Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. with the same amount of seriousness. Having Neeson react to the stupid humor that populates this movie in a serious fashion or say a completely silly line in a serious tone makes each gag even funnier.
If I had one complaint about this movie, it is that the big climatic scene, while still quite funny, is not as memorable as that of the first and third Naked Gun movies. However, with how much this movie made me laugh that is hardly a complaint at all.
Everything I wanted this movie to be.
As a major fan of the three preceding Naked Gun movies and the Police Squad TV show (which the movies were based off of), this felt perfectly in line with those comedy classics. In fact, if it wasn't for the different cast and some modern references (don't worry the filmmaker never overdo these) this could easily been mistaken for one of the Naked Gun movies from the 1980's and 90's. Director/co-writer Akiva Schaffer (whose directorial debut was the delightfully silly comedy Hot Rod (2007)) completely understands what made the previous movies and TV series so much fun and captures it perfectly here. He also understands that to a movie like this the comedic energy and the delivery are just as important if not more so than the gags themselves. Liam Neeson also perfectly understands the assignment. What made Leslie Neilsen, so perfect in previous entries in this franchise is that he had been a dramatic actor and played his role as Lieutenant Frank Drebin as if he was playing a dramatic role. Liam Neeson is an actor who is not especially known for comedy (though his cameo in Ted 2 (2015) was easily the funniest part of that film) and plays the role of Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. with the same amount of seriousness. Having Neeson react to the stupid humor that populates this movie in a serious fashion or say a completely silly line in a serious tone makes each gag even funnier.
If I had one complaint about this movie, it is that the big climatic scene, while still quite funny, is not as memorable as that of the first and third Naked Gun movies. However, with how much this movie made me laugh that is hardly a complaint at all.
Everything I wanted this movie to be.
No comments:
Post a Comment