The Naked Gun (2025)

Jack and I enjoyed whiling away an hour and a half with this silly slapstick reboot full of sight gags and puns, just like its predecessors on screens large and small (on TV it was called Police Squad!). Liam Neeson,  Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, and CCH Pounder are just a few of the dozens of cast members, with cameos by Priscilla Presley and 'Weird Al' Yankovic, both of whom have been in all four movies (1988, 1991, and 1994). This is but one of the many trivia items available. And now that the Academy is beginning to recognize stunts, that huge department should get some love next year.

Akiva Schaffer directs and co-wrote the script with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand. Lorne Balfe's score is streaming on Apple Music as I type.

Neeson was last blogged for The Ballad of Buster Scruggs, Anderson for The Last Showgirl, Hauser for Cruella, Huston for Big Eyes, Pounder for Rustin, and Balfe for Ticket to Paradise. Presley's biggest credit is 144 episodes of Dallas (1983-88) and Yankovic is best known for his parodies of pop songs. Schaffer wrote on 116 episodes of Saturday Night Live, directed 68, and directed four other features besides this one. Gregor has co-written four other features and Mand three (all with Gregor).

Rotten Tomatoes' critics are shooting higher, at 88%, than its audiences at 73. We rented it on September 6. Be sure to stay in your seat for the end credits, as there are plenty more jokes.