The Naked Gun – ABC Film Challenge – Action – N – The Naked Gun – Movie Review
Director: David Zucker
Writer: Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Pat Proft (Screenplay)
Cast
- Leslie Neilsen (Airplane!)
- Priscilla Presley (Dallas)
- Ricardo Montalban (Star Trek 2 The Wrath of Khan)
- George Kennedy (Cool Hand Luke)
Plot: Incompetent police Detective Frank Drebin must foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Runtime: 1 Hour 25 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Naked Gun starts when bumbling Detective Frank Drebin (Nielsen) returns to LA. He learns that his former partner Nordberg (Simpson) is left for dead. Frank must investigate the incident, as the police department is dealing with the imposing arrival of the Queen.
As the investigation unfolds, Frank learns about Jane’s (Presley) involvement in the case. This leads to Frank needing to solve the case before things spiral out of control.
Verdict on The Naked Gun
The Naked Gun is an action comedy following a bumbling police detective who must solve the mystery of an assassination plan against the Queen of England.
This sees things spiralling out of control, as Frank gets deeper into the case. It looks to capture the magic of Airplane! By having a character that is completely out of his depth. Leading to basic comical events unfolding throughout the film. Most of the comedy misses, with not many laughs but wanting to poke fun at the police movies. You can tell the style of comedy has dated badly and this is a worry going into the next part of the franchise.
Final Thoughts – The Naked Gun is a dated comedy, that just doesn’t get the laughs it wants.
One reply on “The Naked Gun (1988) Movie Review”
Interesting take on it…I agree with you, but also know that it’s a beloved comedy – dated to be sure, but it resonated for young viewers and is still well-regarded…for me, the biggest mistake they made was to continually look to the audience to acknowledge the joke…the TV series this was based on, “Police Squad”, avoided that and it played funnier. Its interesting to look back at popular comedies from the 80’s and 90’s to see how they hold up!