Liam Neeson taking over a Naked Gun revival initially sounded like a casting joke. It turns out to be a useful one. His Frank Drebin Jr. approaches ridiculous situations with unwavering seriousness. He is not Leslie Nielsen, but he understands that treating the role sincerely makes the surrounding stupidity funnier.
A murder investigation and a dubious technology company provide the plot. It is a very thin frame for visual jokes, wordplay, slapstick and abrupt changes of scene. Depth is hardly the point. The film moves like a comedy train with the brakes removed, which is both its attraction and its eventual weakness.
Many of the gags work. I laughed aloud at scenes in which Neeson stays perfectly dry while everything around him collapses into nonsense. Pamela Anderson is a highlight as Beth: charismatic, precise and controlled. She treats the madness seriously enough to become a character within it rather than just another joke.
The rhythm becomes less reliable towards the finish. The opening is a wild ride, the middle mostly keeps up, and then the film seems to run short of surprises. Some gags turn predictable, the timing gets rougher, and the final action sequence feels more dutiful than inspired. The almost nonexistent story becomes more noticeable once the laughter slows down.
Still, I had fun. Akiva Schaffer's direction makes room for the jokes without burying them in technical display. The dialogue can be blunt or clever and is rarely subtle, but it often does exactly what this kind of spoof requires. The film is not trying to reinvent slapstick or become sophisticated contemporary satire.
I give it 7 out of 10 points. It is not a great reinvention, and the restart only partly succeeds, but it is entertaining on its own deliberately silly terms. Neeson deserves particular credit for making a complete fool of himself with such dignity.
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