Is this the silliest film you'll see this year? Oh, yes. Is it the funniest movie you'll see this year? Also, very likely, yes.
The Naked Gun reboot, coming 31 years after the last instalment of the classic comedy trilogy, 1994's Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult, sees Liam Neeson taking over the mantle from the late, great Leslie Nielsen.
The Ballymena native is Frank Drebin Jr, the bumbling, coffee-chugging leader of Police Squad and the son of Leslie Nielsen's comically inept detective.
In a scene early on, we see Frank standing in front of a photograph of his late father in the police station and telling him: "I want to be just like you, but at the same time, completely different." It reads as a statement of intent for the entire enterprise.
Thankfully, it delivers, and then some.
Directed by Akiva Schaffer, one-third of the hilarious comedy troupe The Lonely Island, The Naked Gun is extravagantly, unashamedly, preposterously silly. While the original films spoofed police procedurals, here Schaffer riffs on the later-career hard-guy, action-hero persona Neeson has carved out for himself since Taken.
Frank is a rogue cop to end all rogue cops (his shock at being told the police would investigate him if he broke the law is very amusing), but his character is beefed out with some very enjoyable pop culture references. As well as catching bad guys, Frank has a fervent obsession with the Black Eyed Peas (Fergie is a Queen), Sex and the City, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
The story, insofar as it matters, (which is to say, not very much) kicks off with Frank, dressed as a schoolgirl no less, as he singlehandedly foils a bank heist. Alas, the bad guy has managed to swipe a remote control marked with the words 'P.L.O.T. Device' (!) from a safe deposit box in the vault.
After a hero's welcome at the police station, it's back to business for Frank as he investigates the suspicious death of a brilliant tech engineer. The engineer's true-crime novelist sister, Beth Davenport, played by a scene-stealing Pamela Anderson, comes on board to try to get to the bottom of the mystery.
All roads lead them to the slimy tech mogul Richard Cane (Danny Huston), her brother's employer and the inventor of the electric car in which he met his demise. And yes, that P.L.O.T. Device rears its head again as the crucial bit of technology Richard needs to enact an evil, world-shattering event.
The rapid-fire pace of the jokes makes the tight, 85-minute running time whizz by. There are very amusing visual gags (watch out for the cold cases room), delightful wordplay ("UCLA? I see it every day. I live here."), excellent running jokes (they get good mileage out of one involving coffee cups), and a couple of side-splittingly absurd sequences that you need to see to believe.
The cast, which also includes Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken Jr, Frank's partner, and CCH Pounder as the irate station chief, are firing on all cylinders, with Neeson and Anderson's undeniable comedy chemistry taking centre stage. We knew Neeson had comedy chops after memorable cameos in Life’s Too Short and Derry Girls, and he's in flying form here, especially in scenes alongside Anderson.
The Naked Gun is imbued with the spirit of the original films, and you're sure to come out of the cinema with a suitably goofy smile on your face.
