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Comedy movies seem to be nearing extinction. And this type of stoopid-funny humor has been nonexistent. Long gone are the days of the Austin Powers', Zoolander's, Kung Pow's, and Scary Movie's. Until now.

The Naked Gun is extremely stoopid in the best way possible. There are so many times I was shaking my head at the absurdity of what I was watching. It's cleverly random and strategically obnoxious.

I laughed out loud too many times to count. I would estimate an 85% hit rate for me. Combine that with the nonstop quick rate of comedic attempts, maybe 5-10 per minute. It was a good time.

It has an awesome musical score by beast composter Lorne Balfe, and some well-shot action scenes that feel cinematic. These things are completely unnecessary for this type of comedy movie. But it made the experience that much better.

If you're a fan of stoopid-funny, definitely check this out.

(1 viewing, opening Thursday 7/31/2025)

The Naked Gun (2025) is easily my third favorite Naked Gun movie. I've been a big fan of the first two films for a long time. I even own the Police Squad TV series, so I was a little worried when they announced they would be rebooting the franchise. Especially since comedy sequels are usually terrible. However, this movie nails the tone set by its predecessors. It doesn't rely on shock humor (although there is one scene I'd skip over next time). The jokes are clever, and this movie comes fully loaded with them. We all miss Leslie Nielsen, but Liam Neeson does a great job stepping into his shoes.

I got just about what I expected-but I was hoping for a miracle. And a miracle could have happened if they had stayed true to the spirit of the original films. The originals are a parody of classic noir/detective cinema, with Leslie Nielsen as Frank Drebin doing absurd things with a completely straight face-just like Peter Sellers did a few years earlier in The Pink Panther.

Even though everything around them is parodic (as are their actions), they themselves remain serious characters and see themselves that way. In this film, though, they let that go. They threw in a bunch of anarchic humor and unintelligent stunts-clearly, in my view, aiming to attract a younger audience.

And that audience seemed to enjoy the film quite a bit. We older fans, on the other hand, swallowed the lump in our throats and took some comfort in the solid performances of our beloved aging stars, consoling ourselves that it turned out relatively well.

What a pleasant surprise that movie was. It really brought back the humour and the spirit of the old movies while still bringing its own fresh flair to it. Not every joke might land but there are so many of them in the movie and most of them worked for me. It has been a while since I saw a movie so eager to make you laugh.

Shame on all of us for presiding over the death of the studio comedy. Comedy movies, as of late, have existed only on streaming platforms. Not only that, but you could probably count on one hand how many "streaming comedies" were hits. Call it a lack of effort or call it greed, but it's been a decade since a studio comedy like this has come to a movie theater.

The Naked Gun 2025 is the very thing that was missing all along. We need funny movies. We need to laugh more. Laughter is a salvation. This film has lots of laughs. Though it is a Seth MacFarlane/Lonely Island collaboration, you wouldn't know it was one without prior knowledge. This is a Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker comedy to a fault. I really felt like I was watching one of their films. The non-stop puns and sight gags fly as ferociously as they did in the original trilogy. Liam Neeson is the absolute perfect successor to Leslie Nielsen's Frank Drebin. Pamela Anderson is spectacularly funny. Everything works. Really, hats off to everyone involved for taking the risk of bringing back this franchise for a generation that, largely, didn't grow up with these films.