The Naked Gun Sequel Brings Back Classic Chaos

Famously, Leslie Nielsen once said that “An assault on the funny bone is no joking matter.” The actor should know. He helmed the improbable, long-running Naked Gun franchise as clumsy detective Frank Drebin, memorably trying to foil an assassination of Queen Elizabeth II in the first film by running into copious physical hazards. Nielsen continued the comedic beats as the accidental hero for two sequels over the next several years. All three were received well, with The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! Finding a place in the top 50 crime comedies of all time, according to IMDb users.

In the most recent installment, Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult, Drebin must again return from retirement to prevent a bomb from going off during the Academy Awards. However, Drebin would never officially return to the role after the final film. In 2013, Paramount got the green light to reboot the franchise with former The Office star Ed Helms cast as “Frank Drebin, no relation.” But as years went on, it quickly stalled after creator/producer/director David Zucker refused to be involved, stating that any sort of reboot could only pale in comparison to his films. In 2017, Zucker briefly returned to help develop a different take with Drebin’s son as the lead in a spin on his character as a secret agent. That too died on the vine.

Fast forward to 2021, when Seth MacFarlane got the green light to restart the franchise without Zucker, and Liam Neeson was cast as Frank Drebin Jr., a Lieutenant in the LAPD. Drebin Jr. will take the role as the legacy sequel to the franchise, following in his father’s tragicomic footsteps of solving cases by literally stumbling onto information.

Joining the cast are Paul Walter Hauser as Captain Ed Hocken, Jr., Drebin Sr.’s long-time partner, whose father has also mysteriously been killed. Hauser is also set to appear in an upcoming Fantastic Four film as the Mole Man. Pamela Anderson also stars in the upcoming film as a “beautiful femme fatale whose brother has been murdered.” Frank Jr. becomes her “only hope to save the Police Squad, the legendary cop squad his father once commanded,” unless he can solve the case. Rounding out the cast are Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Liza Koshy, Cody Rhodes, CCH Pounder, Busta Rhymes, and Eddy Yu.

A new teaser trailer was released in April, and though it did not get the best critical response, David Zucker despised it, telling TMZ, “I regretted watching the teaser because I can’t unsee it.” However, there are some exciting things to look at. Neeson seems more than up for the wild tonal shift of the franchise, riffing on his typically much more serious “particular set of skills” schtick, first introduced in the Taken franchise. At one point in the trailer, he solemnly declares, “Once you kill a man for revenge, there’s no going back” before tearing the arms from the man attacking him and using them as weapons. “A voice in your head saying over and over ‘That was awesome,’” he continues, marveling at his action hero prowess.

In a more touching moment, Ed Jr. and Frank look at plaques of their fathers, seemingly moved by the speeches they gave in memory of their fathers, and tear up. A moment of sappy emotionality in The Naked Gun? We’ll take it.

Humorously, the story of Frank Drebin Jr. isn’t much revealed beyond an outline, but the plot is there. As the trailer suggests, Beth’s murder case is the through-line of the film, and Frank must do everything in his power to stop the Police Squad’s impending closure. The “everything” part of that statement is subverted, of course, with exchanges such as one of Frank’s interviewees telling the detective he’s been in prison for 20 years “for man’s laughter.” Drebin Jr. assumes he means “manslaughter.” “Must have been quite the joke,” the son of the franchise’s hero replies dryly.

The Naked Gun has always been best when the story is almost entirely subsumed by the gag. The entire first Naked Gun film builds to a caper scene at the airport with no fewer than three very important and very bulky packages involved, but the entire setup is undone by Drebin’s dedication to bathroom breaks. Frank Jr. demonstrates that he’s more than ready to commandeer the men’s room of a coffee shop for “police business” as well as give the snot-eating grimace that followed Nielsen’s famous line, “I’m serious, Captain. This is no laughing matter” in the first film.

Time will tell if the film is able to marry the updates the cast and crew are interested in doing to the franchise with the humor, pratfalls, puns, and general ridiculousness that the films are best known for. For many, the potential schlock of this reboot may be exactly what it takes to quell the hunger for nostalgia this summer, especially given the trailer and the new cast’s mettle.