Looks like everyone wants a good laugh.
The Naked Gun reboot, starring Liam Neeson and produced by Seth MacFarlane, is certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 89%. But it’s not just the critics who are having a laugh. Audiences are enjoying the film too. The Naked Gun has a 75% rating on the review aggregator’s Popcornmeter, and an impressive A- on Cinemascore.
“The Naked Gun focuses on the laughs, which are all performed with a surprising and crucial amount of restraint,” wrote Screen Rant in their review. “Jokes never overstay their welcome, but they still hang around, allowing plenty of time for the laughter to keep going.”
The Playlist was also impressed, especially with director Akiva Schaffer. “Schaffer sleekly and efficiently builds gut-busting laughs into every scene of this tight 85-minute runtime, ensuring satisfaction from top to bottom,” they wrote in their review.
In The Naked Gun, Neeson plays Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., son of Lt. Frank Drebin (famously played by Leslie Nielsen in the originals) and the only man who has the particular set of skills to lead Police Squad and save the world! Directed by Schaffer (Saturday Night Live, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping) and produced by MacFarlane (Ted, Family Guy), The Naked Gun stars Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu, with Danny Huston.
RogerEbert.com is all praises for Neeson, who is primarily known for serious roles, such as in his Oscar-nominated titular role in Schindler’s List, and of course, as an action star, thanks to his “very particular set of skills” in Taken. “The main reason that The Naked Gun is consistently smile-inducing is because of how wonderfully Neeson’s deadpan gravitas works with the material – a performer who can be so deadly serious doing things that are so deadly stupid,” they wrote.
There’s a lot of love for Anderson as well. In their article, The Hollywood Reporter said that Anderson’s “buoyant screen presence keeps [the dialogue] fresh and funny” and that her delivery “displays impeccable comic timing, never leaning too hard into a line when her breathy throwaway delivery can land a bigger laugh.”
“With rapid-fire gags and a game cast trying hard to play it all completely straight, this nakedly hilarious Naked Gun is a welcome return in a time where we can use a few good laughs,” said Deadline Hollywood.
Vulture couldn’t have said it better when they described the film as “Fall-out-of-your-seat-and-roll-on-the-floor hilarious. See it with the biggest audience you can find. It might just heal you. It might just heal the world.”
Don’t miss the single most important Naked Gun movie since the other Naked Gun movies. Watch The Naked Gun, only in cinemas August 13. Join the conversation with the hashtag #NakedGun and tag @paramountpicsph