The reviews are out for the new Liam Neeson-led revival of “The Naked Gun” franchise, and the word is pretty damn great.
With over 67 reviews counted, the film sits at a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes along with a 77/100 on Metacritic, making it the best reviewed wide release comedy this year.
Complaints mostly swirl around how almost every gag works well in the first act but not as well in the subsequent second and third acts. Almost all appreciate the return of an old-school comedy like this and there’s plenty of praise for Neeson and co-star Pamela Anderson.
Here’s a sampling of review quotes:
“The relaunch of the classic comedy series captures exactly what made the original, and other movies from the team behind Airplane!, so essential: An almost non-stop onslaught of silly and random moments, always going for the belly laugh.” – Liz Shannon Miller, Consequence
“That’s a delicate tango in the context of an increasingly rare studio movie that exists for no other purpose than to make people laugh, but it’s one this hilarious new take on the old ZAZ masterpiece pulls off with a rose between its teeth.” – David Ehrlich, Indiewire
“Fall-out-of-your-seat-and-roll-on-the-floor hilarious. See it with the biggest audience you can find. It might just heal you. It might just heal the world.” – Bilge Ebiri, Vulture
“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.” – Richard Lawson, Vanity Fair
“A stupid-smart mix of clunkers, wordplay, old-school set-ups, prop humor, and left-field ideas doesn’t inherently make for a comedy classic…but it does prove how effective these films’ formula can be when followed properly.” – Jacob Oller, AV Club
“Director Akiva Schaffer and his co-writers keep the energy high and the gags absurd in an 85-minute barrage of hilarity that never stops to take a breath.” – Alonso Duralde, The Film Verdict
“Even if the movie kind of stalls midway as Schaffer struggles to balance the gags with the action of an overly elaborate crime plot, there are enough laugh-out-loud moments to keep nostalgic fans of the earlier films happy.” – David Rooney, THR
“The early scenes are so shamelessly, stupidly funny, with a hit-to-miss gag ratio of about 75 percent, that you can’t help be disappointed as that ratio steadily sinks over the course of the movie.” – Ty Burr, The Washington Post
“Brilliant gags pop up here and there, yet the last two-thirds of this new Naked Gun feels like its exponentially limping to the finish line.” – David Fear, Rolling Stone
Akiva Schaffer directs the film which opens in cinemas on Friday.
