The Naked Gun: Worthy successor to Leslie Nielsen's comedy

IF there is one thing to be said about the career of Liam Neeson, it’s that he isn’t afraid to reinvent himself.

After many years of starring in self-serious action vehicles, the veteran star takes on the task of reviving the classic spoof police comedy series made famous by the late, great Leslie Nielsen.

With Neeson starring as the son of Nielsen’s clueless cop character Detective Frank Drebin, this film functions as a sequel as well as a reboot of the beloved franchise.

While there is often trepidation among fans about reviving any long dormant series, the new movie proves not only that it can work but that there’s a chance of standing on equal footing with the original films.

Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) is an intrepid yet bumbling member of the LAPD department known as Police Squad.

When he’s not drinking absurd amounts of coffee and driving erratically through the streets of Los Angeles, he’s solving the toughest crimes cases, despite possessing no discernable skills as a detective.

After foiling a bank robbery while disguised as a school girl, Drebin catches heat from his bosses after putting every one of the robbers in the hospital.

Unbeknownst to Drebin, the robbery was staged by ruthless tech mogul Richard Cane (Danny Huston) in order to steal the P.L.O.T. Device from a safety deposit box. Meanwhile Drebin investigates the death of a software engineer in what appears to be a suicide.

However the man’s sister, the beautiful Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), a crime novelist; is convinced that her brother was murdered but is sheepish about providing details.

Drebin meets with Cane and despite their mutual appreciation of the Black Eyed Peas, he grows suspicious of him. In fact, Cane plans to use the device as a part of a plan to brainwash the entire world. As Drebin grows closer to Beth, the two join forces to thwart Cane’s evil schemes.

Based on the short-lived television series Police Squad (and written by the minds behind Airplane!), the original Naked Gun film was a gloriously silly and laugh-out-loud hit, sending audiences into hysterics with its satire of film noir tropes and parody of police procedural clichés.

The joke of the straight-faced Drebin being oblivious to the absurd events unfolding around him as well his own incompetence was enough to warrant two sequels, which also featured plenty of belly laughs.

More than three decades after the last entry in the series, producer Seth MacFarlane and writer-director Akiva Schaffer succeed in continuing it with some aplomb.

Rather than changing what made the series successful, Schaffer leans into it relentlessly in this film, maintaining the style of cramming as many sight gags, surreal jokes and non-sequitur dialogues as possible into 85 minutes.

The result is a film that features plenty of giggle and guffaw-inducing moments, so many in fact there isn’t enough room to mention them here.

Neeson is hardly known for his comedic acting skills but his casting here proves to be nothing short of inspired.

He essentially takes the gravelly action avenger he’s been playing since 2008’s Taken and completely turns it on its head.

Reciting the most absurd dialogue and engaging in the most ridiculous slapstick, all while maintaining the most deadpan of expressions, often proves to be utterly hilarious.

It’s an inspired piece of casting that reminds us that Neeson is an actor with range. While Leslie Nielsen is a tough act to follow, Neeson certainly manages to do the series proud.

The Naked Gun brings the spoof series roaring back to splendidly preposterous life.

RATING: ****

Matthew McCaul