Unhinged, Raunchy Action Comedy Revival Belts Out An Unthinkable Amount Of Laughs Per Minute

Written by Robert Scocchi | Published 14 seconds ago

Sometimes, you just want to watch an action comedy where nothing is at stake except how hard it is to laugh. The bare gunreleased earlier this year, is the perfect example of a top-notch clown occupying the driver’s seat, forcing you to sit back and be attacked as you’re in a self-driving comedy car hitting as many verbal and visual punchlines as humanly possible. The only collateral damage in this dated sequel is your sides, which will be cowed into submission as you giggle your way through the intro, thanks to Liam Neeson’s deadpan delivery and Pamela Anderson’s commitment to the part.

Gladly carrying the torch of the Naked Gun franchise to a new generation without compromising its original appeal, The bare gun It is a complete and masterful slapstick lesson for fans of the original trilogy. airplaneand Baseball ball It will be devoured.

A literal plot device

The bare gun The film revolves around Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr., played by Liam Neeson, who carries out the legacy of his late father (Leslie Nielsen). On a complex mission to track down a Primitive Toughness law Device, or PLOT device, his shoot-first-ask-questions-later tactics get him into trouble with Police Chief Davis (C.C. H. Pounder), who’s tired of playing fast and loose with the law. Frank is paired with Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), the sister of Simon Davenport, a software engineer who recently died in a car accident after trying to sound the alarm about the device’s dangers. His employer, technology mogul, Richard Cain (Danny Huston), immediately becomes the prime suspect.

Crime novelist Beth teams up with Frank, and the two aim to solve Simon’s death using whatever police resources they can scrape together. As layers of corporate corruption emerge, a romance develops between Frank and Beth, complicating matters when the going gets tough. Fortunately, they keep their eyes on the prize and jump in to save the day in classic police squad style, leaving a trail of collateral damage in their wake.

The Naked Gun series has always been a numbers game

The main reason The bare gun Works because it aims to cram as many jokes into the film’s screenplay as possible. Log in in 85 minutes, not a single second will be wasted. The puns, both visual and verbal, come in quick succession, and the recurring gags come with wild frequency. I’ve lost count of the number of times Frank and Captain Ed Hawken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser) throw old coffee cups off-screen before an unseen contributor hands him a new one.

Liam Neeson deserves a lot of credit because his willingness to play everything straight would make Leslie Nielsen proud. It’s clear that his action hero training over the past 20 years has been working, giving him a Brian Mills aura throughout the entire film. His cold face plays off Pamela Anderson’s more overt slapstick style perfectly, resulting in quality comedy that keeps a straight face while forcing the viewer to hold back laughter long enough to avoid missing the next line.

Considering the amount of bullshit packed into it The bare gunDon’t let every joke fall flat. The bit about champagne from Bill Cosby’s private collection that immediately prompts Beth to reconsider taking a sip is funny, but jokes are more powerful when they’re not topical. I don’t mind making jokes at Cosby’s expense, and they’re more than deserving, but The Naked Gun franchise is more obvious than that. Topical humor gets old quickly when its real-world relevance fades. Fortunately, those moments are rare, and we’re often treated to the cosmic gags of the fantasy at hand and much more.

A worthy sequel to fans of the original trilogy

The bare gun He succeeds because he doesn’t pretend to be anything other than what he is. Its story is deliberately simple, allowing the gags to take center stage. You know where the puzzle is going, and the goal is to enjoy the absurdity of the journey rather than the destination. The film also has strong rewatch value because its pacing is so frenetic that you’ll miss the jokes the first time around. You’ll be too busy laughing at everything you saw seconds ago.

A perfect tribute to and extension of the original trilogy, The bare gun It proves that old parts don’t need to reinvent anything to win a modern audience. If the property it produced is still self-contained, all it has to do is give us more of the same. The bare gun It gives us exactly that, and nothing more. It really doesn’t get better than this.

The bare gun It is streaming on Paramount+.