QS stands for “Quickshot”, a series of short form review/preview/opinion articles.
I might’ve mentioned before on this blog that I’m not typically a fan of the Comedy genre. Not that I’m some sort of stick-in-the-mud who can’t appreciate a good laugh (I love to laugh). I just tend to find Comedy films/shows/books to be fairly simplistic and shallow, not doing a whole lot more than just aiming to provide a bit of levity. And, often times, that levity tends to be pretty juvenile and cringeworthy.
But, alongside well-timed slapstick (which I’ve always weirdly had a soft spot for), I do tend to be a big fan of dry, fast-paced comedy. The likes of which Leslie Nielsen popularized with such films as “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun“. And so hey, wouldn’t you know it, but a brand new “The Naked Gun” just came out last year. It’s a pseudo-sequel aiming to be a spiritual successor/continuation of the original set of goofy films. So of course I gave it a watch!
And yeah…it’s dumb, but the right kind of dumb. The funny kind of dumb that makes you laugh and roll your eyes at the same time. It’s really fun!
The film follows Liam Neeson’s character, Frank Drebin Jr. (son of Leslie Nielsen’s character from the original), and his ridiculous antics at Police Squad. It actually shares a ton of similarities with the first film, including a suitably goofy femme fatale companion, a villain with a surprisingly violent plan who is the only character attempting to take the story seriously, and an almost uncountable number of outrageous jokes and visual gags that practically beg multiple rewatches to catch it all.
Does this make the movie reductive? I mean, if you want to be cynical…maybe? But it’s a silly little comedy movie that manages to tell a basic-but-serviceable story while also making you laugh a ton, and not having to rely on excessive juvenile gross out humor or overbearing vulgarity to do it. I think we can give it a pass!
It has a very ‘literal‘ style of humor, where everything anyone ever says is taken directly at face value. And if it’s not that, it’s blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moments that might not even hit you in the funny bone until after the credits have rolled. Oh, and speaking of, the credits are also super entertaining!
As an example of what I’m referring to, though, look at the image a few paragraphs up in this article, of our lead and his friend entering the ‘Police Squad‘ room. I only just noticed while writing this that the word ‘Police‘ and ‘Squad‘ are both written in different directions, so the name is illegible no matter which side of the door you’re on. That’s genius!
Four aspects of this film in particular stood out to me the most.
One aspect is a certain mid-movie montage that I wouldn’t dare to spoil here. It’s hilarious, and it goes on for way longer than you’d ever imagine it would. It’s a great bit.
Another aspect is how there’s a fair bit of entertaining action in this movie, at least more than I was expecting. A unique scene near the end has our protagonist defeat a lineup of foes with just the clips from his guns, and it’s very entertaining (and timed perfectly to the music).
A third aspect is that I just was unaware of how funny and entertaining Liam Neeson can be in a comedy role. I hope this isn’t blasphemous to say this, but he’s so good in this film that he really does feel like the second coming of Leslie Nielsen, at least in so far as evoking the character of Frank Drebin.
And the final aspect I wanted to touch on was the movie’s completely unexpected Mission Impossible: Fallout reference. I don’t want to spoil the full scene, but this movie parodies almost the entire scene from that other movie, including some lines of dialogue word-for-word. But, obviously, the context is much sillier, and the end results are more chaotic. Even the music clearly evokes the Mission Impossible: Fallout leitmotif. And for someone like me who considers Fallout one of my favorite movies of all time…I was a big fan of that scene!
This movie isn’t going to change your life or anything. However, there are a lot worse (and less funny) ways to spend ninety minutes of your life! Give it a watch!
8.5/10
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