A sketch stretched out to feature-length shouldn’t be normally a glowing remark a few comedy, although there are some notable exceptions. Wayne’s World, The Blues Brothers, and, extra lately, MacGruber, are some examples, the final of which was directed by The Lonely Island, the SNL trio consisting of Andy Samberg, Jorma Tacome, and Akiva Schaffer. Schaffer can be behind 2025’s The Bare Gun, a legacy sequel to the third installment of the Leslie Nielsen-led parody franchise. The Bare Gun is basically a sketch stretched right into a full-length movie.
It’s a critique you possibly can lob at some earlier Shaffer movies, like Sizzling Rod and Popstar: By no means Cease By no means Stopping, movies that, whereas very humorous, felt linked along with bubblegum. It’s not an issue right here, exactly as a result of The Bare Gun makes no effort to have even a semblance of a significant plot. That’s to not say there’s no story, however when a movie opens with a thief breaking right into a financial institution to steal a distant management field actually labeled “Plot Gadget,” you possibly can cease worrying in regards to the specifics of Frank Drebin, Jr.’s arc.
The Bare Gun Makes The Sensible Determination To Focus On Laughs First & Foremost
The Plot Of The Movie Is Negligible, Making The Film Extra Streamlined
As a substitute, The Bare Gun focuses on the laughs, that are all carried out with a stunning and essential quantity of restraint. Jokes by no means overstay their welcome, however they nonetheless cling round, permitting loads of time for the laughter to maintain going. My viewers would sometimes snicker comfortably at a joke, then, a second later, snicker even tougher as we collectively found one other stage to a gag.
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The Bare Gun reboot is nearly right here, and right here is when the Liam Neeson comedy hits theaters and when it should launch on streaming and digital.
Sometimes, The Bare Gun misses, however Schaffer is smart sufficient to maintain issues transferring. A joke eliciting a number of uncomfortable chuckles is all the time adopted by a knockout to have you ever grinning stupidly once more. Shaffer is aware of precisely when to supply a palate cleanser, and the anticipation that comes when a joke is telegraphed is almost as enjoyable because the joke itself.
The premise of The Bare Gun is so skinny as to be nearly irrelevant, nevertheless it goes somewhat one thing like this. Frank Drebin, Jr. (Liam Neeson), the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character from the unique movies, is fixing a mysterious suicide. He learns that tech billionaire Richard Cane (Danny Huston) plans to deprave each cellphone on the planet with a noise that causes those that hear it to tear each other aside, leaving just a few survivors for Danny and his rich ilk to lord over. There is a trace of commentary there, nevertheless it’s by no means explored extra deeply.
Frank is sometimes joined by his companion, Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser), the son of one other well-known cop (all cops on this precinct are associated to a beloved and lifeless police officer). He’s additionally joined by Beth Davenport, a girl investigating her brother’s homicide, performed by Pamela Anderson, in a candy and completely pitched comedy efficiency to match Neeson’s.
The Bare Gun Is Previous-Customary However Nonetheless Feels Contemporary
Liam Neeson’s Stone-Confronted Schtick By no means Will get Previous
Picture through Paramount Photos
Neeson is the draw, after all, channeling a comedic vein I haven’t witnessed since his scene-stealing cameo within the pilot for Ricky Gervais’ Life’s Too Brief in 2011. His steely-eyed glare, mixed with a refusal to wink on the digicam, is admirable. It’s along with his full dedication that probably the most eye-rolling puns find yourself being deliciously humorous jokes.
The Bare Gun simply desires to stuff its run time with as many jokes because the script can deal with and nonetheless be mentioned to have a starting and an finish.
The Bare Gun is old school, and comedy followers will discover some gags lifted from now-ancient tomes like Austin Powers, however this is not out of reverence for comedy classics like Airplane or Spaceballs, although they’re lower from the identical fabric. The Bare Gun simply desires to stuff its runtime with as many jokes because the script can deal with and nonetheless have a reputable starting and an finish. Even the popular culture references are from one other decade. Jokes about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Intercourse and the Metropolis, and the Microsoft Workplace assistant device Clippy fill the film.
It’s dated, nevertheless it’s removed from dusty. The movie cajoles you into laughter with its innocence, which, whereas by no means candy, is rarely so harsh that you need to choke down fun with a groan. The Bare Gun revels on this old-school type of comedy filmmaking and doesn’t notably thoughts if the viewers misses a joke or two alongside the best way.
Like the primary character, whose pale thighs are offered to the world at first and on the finish of the movie, The Bare Gun has nothing to cover. It desires you to take a superb look — that’s, until you have already got sufficient attractiveness at residence.
The Bare Gun
8/10
- Launch Date
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August 1, 2025
- Director
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Akiva Schaffer
- Writers
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Akiva Schaffer, Doug Mand, Dan Gregor
- Producers
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Erica Huggins
- Franchise(s)
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The Bare Gun
- Successful performances from your entire solid.
- Nonstop jokes and gags.
- A smart determination to deal with laughs slightly than plot.
- The occasional missed joke lands with a thud.