One hundred percent pure, unadulterated co… medy
A cop is thwarting a bank robbery, engaging in hand-to-hand combat with one of the robbers. At first, they block punches, then their actions become a game of patty-cake, and then it’s a pantomime as the cop dispenses with the robber with a finger gun. Ah yes, the healing power of comedy! From the minds of legendary filmmaking trio Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker (Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker) came Airplane! (1980) and Top Secret! (1984) and then The Naked Gun (1988), a feature film version of the TV show, Police Squad! Yes, ZAZ really liked exclamation points. The trio’s brand of humor redefined blockbuster comedies, continuing Mel Brooks’s 1970s “spoof” style of adult, metanarrative, slapstick humor. A remake of The Naked Gun has been circling Hollywood for a long time, and it has finally arrived in the form of a legacy sequel directed by The Lonely Island’s Akiva Schaffer (Popstar; Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers). Could the new Naked Gun capture the unapologetically silly nature of the original, and is that type of parodic comedy still funny today? The answer to both is ‘yes, of course, now shut up and watch the movie.’ Continue reading “Film Review: “The Naked Gun””
