On Screen: “The Naked Gun”
The Naked Gun
To quote from “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” …
“Something familiar
Something peculiar
Something for everyone — a comedy tonight!
Something appealing
Something appalling
Something for everyone — a comedy tonight!
Nothing with kings
Nothing with crowns;
Bring on the lovers, liars and clowns
Old situations
New complications
Nothing portentous or polite
Tragedy tomorrow
Comedy tonight!
Something convulsive
Something repulsive
Something for everyone
A comedy tonight!”
Yep! Comedy’s back — with lovers, liars and clowns … on the big screen with Liam Neeson as dimwitted detective Frank Drebin Jr. (son of Leslie Nielsen’s bumbling Frank Drebin), and Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser) — son of Ed Hocken (George Kennedy).
Under orders from Los Angeles Police Squad Chief Davis (CCH Pounder), they’re investigating the suspicious death of a tech engineer whose electric vehicle veered off the road. The victim’s sister, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), is convinced it was no accident — it was murder.
All clues lead to Beth’s brother’s tech billionaire boss, Richard Kane (Danny Huston) who has concocted an absurdly nefarious PLOT (Primordial Law of Toughness) with mind-alerting properties.
None of this makes much sense — because it’s not supposed to. Co-writing with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, director Akiva Schaffer skewers the familiar police procedural franchise, sprinkling amusing jokes and droll one-liners — wickedly stupid wordplay — like confetti. Seth MacFarlane co-produces and celebrity cameos abound.
But what’s most memorable is how Oscar-nominated Liam Neeson (“Schindler’s List”), who has spent the past 18 years playing tough action heroes (“Taken” franchise), brilliantly transitions his stoic physicality, deadpan intensity and raspy voice into slapstick comedy.
At his side, Pamela Anderson (“The Last Showgirl”) displays charming comic timing, particularly her specificity delivering a supposedly improvised jazz scat song which was really intricately scripted and took 12 hours to film.
Together, Anderson and Neeson exude great cinematic chemistry!
On the Granger Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Naked Gun” is a smartly silly 7, playing in theaters — and stay for more fun during the credits.
Susan Granger is a product of Hollywood. Her natural father, S. Sylvan Simon, was a director and producer at M.G.M. and Columbia Pictures. Her adoptive father, Armand Deutsch, produced movies at M.G.M.
As a child, Susan appeared in movies with Abbott & Costello, Red Skelton, Lucille Ball, Margaret O’Brien, and Lassie. She attended Mills College in California, studying journalism with Pierre Salinger, and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with highest honors in journalism.