The Naked Gun review – Liam Neeson deadpans impeccably in outrageously amusing spoof reboot

Neeson plays the son of Leslie Nielsen’s Lt Frank Drebin, appearing opposite Pamela Anderson in this enjoyable, at times very bizarre, spoof of 80s LA action moviesHere is Liam Neeson doing a rumbly-menacing voice even sillier than the one he did in Taken – and he now presumably must decide whether, like Leslie Nielsen before him, he will pivot to spoof comedy full-time. To be fair, Neeson has more career capital to lose than Nielsen did. He deadpans it impeccably, but perhaps doesn’t quite have Nielsen’s eerie innocence. In any case, it doesn’t stop this reboot of the Naked Gun franchise from being a lot of fun: amiably ridiculous, refreshingly shallow, entirely pointless and guilelessly crass. It is a life-support system for some outrageous gags, including sensational riffs on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Sex and the City, and one showstopping are-they-really-gonna-do-it reference to OJ Simpson, who featured in the original films.David Zucker, co-creator of those and the Airplane! films, is reportedly dissatisfied with this new version from the team of director Akiva Schaffer and co-writers Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. A spoof of a spoof is always going to be a potential problem, but Schaffer et al canter entertainingly through their succession of absurdist scenarios – and at one stage contrive a classic Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker homage: a moment of mayhem followed by a wide-shot of people queueing up obediently for violence, like Airplane!’s line of (hitherto unseen) passengers. Continue reading...

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Liam Neeson’s Naked Gun reboot is a masterclass in buffoonery