“The Naked Gun” partial poster featuring Liam Neeson.
Paramount Pictures
Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson’s new comedy The Naked Gun opens in theaters this week. How do Rotten Tomatoes critics rate the remake of the classic film comedy?
Rated PG-13, The Naked Gun plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday. The logline for the film reads, “Only one man has the particular set of skills … to lead Police Squad and save the world! Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) follows in his father’s footsteps in The Naked Gun.”
The Naked Gun is directed by Akiva Schaffer and produced by Ted and Family Guy creator Seth MacFarlane. The Naked Gun also stars Paul Walter Hauser, CCH Pounder, Kevin Durand, Cody Rhodes, Liza Koshy, Eddie Yu and Danny Huston.
The film is based on the classic TV series Police Squad! and The Naked Gun movies, which starred Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin. The show was created by Jim Abrahams, David Zucker and Jerry Zucker, who originally brought the misadventures of Drebin to the big screen.
As of Wednesday afternoon, The Naked Gun has earned a 90% “fresh” rating from Rotten Tomatoes critics based on 100 reviews. The RT Critics Consensus and Popcornmeter score from verified user ratings are still pending.
What Are Individual Critics Saying About ‘The Naked Gun’?
Richard Lawson of Vanity Fair is among the top critics on RT who gives The Naked Gun a “fresh” rating, writing in his review summary, “At its best, this new Naked Gun is a dumb, loopy delight, a return to the kind of comedy that was woefully taken for granted in its heyday and now barely exists at all.”
Also giving The Naked Gun a “fresh” review is Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle, who writes in his RT review summary, “[Liam] Neeson is a delight and seems to be having as much fun as the audience. But the surprise here is [Pamela] Anderson, who was sad and plaintive in The Last Showgirl and now reveals herself a skilled and self-aware comedienne.”
Clarisse Loughrey also lauds The Naked Gun in her “fresh” review for the UK’s Independent, writing on RT, “It’s not exactly revolutionary stuff, but it does remind us, despite what some might claim, that comedy can still take risks while maintaining basic social awareness.”
On the flip side, David Fear of Rolling Stone is among the top critics on RT who gives the reboot of The Naked Gun a “rotten” rating, writing, “Brilliant gags pop up here and there, yet the last two-thirds of this new Naked Gun feels like it’s exponentially limping to the finish line.”
Ty Burr of The Washington Post shares Fear’s sentiments about The Naked Gun, writing in his RT review, “The early scenes are so shamelessly, stupidly funny, with a hit-to-miss gag ratio of about 75 percent, that you can’t help but be disappointed as that ratio steadily sinks over the course of the movie.”
Jake Coyle of The Associated Press also gives the movie a “rotten” rating on RT, writing, “It would be easy to hail The Naked Gun as something better than it is, since its simply existing is cause for celebration. But like most reboots … the best thing about the new Naked Gun is that it might send you back to the original.”
The Naked Gun plays in Thursday previews before opening in theaters nationwide on Friday.