Naked Gun (2025) demonstrates once again that some franchises are better left untouched.

2 out of 5

I'm old enough to remember the original episodes of Police Squad which took Leslie Nielson's deadpan character from the original Airplane films and set him in a comedy centred around a division of the Los Angeles Police Department. It was a send-up of the ubiquitous cop shows that were to be found in the 1970s. As well as Nielson, Police Squad brought snappy one liners and the "more going on in the background" element found in the Airplane films. The success of Police Squad, even though it was cancelled only after only six episodes, led to 1988's The Naked Gun which brought "the files of Police Squad" to the big screen and a wider audience. It spawned a trilogy which included 1991's Naked Gun 2 and a half: The Smell of Fear and 1994's Naked Gun 33 and a third: The Final Insult. By 1994 the charm had worn off the sexism, the misogynistic approach and Leslie Nielson hung up his holster.

Here we are over thirty years later and it seems that director and writer Akiva Schaffer and a team of producers led by Seth McFarlane have decided to reboot the Naked Gun with an eye on the market for nostalgia. Rebooting a beloved comedy classic is a high-wire act, and Naked Gun 2025 is a clear example of the wire breaking. This latest attempt to revive the deadpan, slapstick humour of the original films feels less like a loving tribute and more like a sad, desperate gasp for relevance. The film is a mostly joyless and predictable affair, proving that sometimes comedic lightning can’t be caught twice.

The film attempts to replicate the formula of its predecessors: a ridiculously convoluted plot serving as a flimsy clothesline for a rapid-fire series of gags. However, the humour here lacks the brilliant, straight-faced absurdity that made Leslie Nielsen's portrayal of Frank Drebin so iconic. The new lead, Liam Neeson, playing Frank Drebin Jr, while clearly trying to channel that same energy, mistakes chaotic over-acting for genuine comedic timing. The result is a performance that feels less like a parody of a serious cop and more like a generic clown in a police uniform. The jokes themselves are a mix of tired references and modern, meta-humour that lands with a thud more often than not.

Leslie Nielson played Frank Drebin completely straight, unaware of the chaos and carnage in his wake. Liam Neeson plays it as though he is in on the joke. Pamela Anderson, fresh from Showgirls does her best with the flimsy material and, to her credit, plays the comedy with a straighter face than Neeson.

To its credit, the film does have a few moments of inspired slapstick that hint at the magic of the originals. A specific visual gag involving a malfunctioning jetpack and a flock of pigeons is a standout, and a returning cameo from a legacy character provides a brief, much-needed spark of genuine nostalgia. These flashes of brilliance, however, are few and far between, buried under a mountain of forced humour and a surprisingly bland plot that fails to engage on any level.

Ultimately, Naked Gun 2025 is a disappointing and unnecessary reboot. It’s harmless enough and might elicit a few scattered chuckles, but it completely misses the charm, wit, and deadpan genius that made the original series a masterpiece of comedy. It's a forgettable and pale imitation, a sad reminder that some franchises are better left untouched.