Comedy that made critics ‘laugh until it hurts’ earns surprise 91% on Rotten Tomatoes – Bundlezy

Comedy that made critics ‘laugh until it hurts’ earns surprise 91% on Rotten Tomatoes

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The ‘dumb’ reboot sequel of classic 80s comedy The Naked Gun has delighted critics after being praised for making people cry with laughter.

A hugely popular and funny franchise of a short-lived TV series and three films kickstarted in 1982 has been revisited in 2025 with Liam Neeson starring.

And it appears, for once,like this was an excellent move in a world so often plagued by weak and unoriginal sequels and reboots as The Naked Gun is currently sitting on an impressive 91% according to Rotten Tomatoes.

He plays Frank Jr, the son of original star Leslie Nielsen, who was the franchise’s main character, the hapless Detective Sergeant Frank Drebin – often described as having ‘a heart of gold and a brain of wood’.

Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston and Paul Walter Hauser also co-star in the flick, which was directed by The Lonely Island’s Avika Schaffer and produced by Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane.

The Naked Gun is famously known for its spoof nature and ridiculous jokes, but it appears the somewhat risky move of trying to recreate that original magic has paid off, with New York Post critic Johnny Oleksinski calling it ‘an assault of absurdity’ in a full-mark review.

The Naked Gun | Official Trailer (2025 Movie) - Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLguU7WLreA
Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson have wowed critics in The Naked Gun, despite it being another reboot (Picture: Paramount Pictures)

‘If this movie doesn’t succeed than we deserve the most depressing movies for the next decade. God, I’m still laughing,’ added critic Zach Pope while IndieWire’s David Ehrlich tweeted: ‘There are like six different scenes in The Naked Gun that made me laugh so hard I cried.’

‘I wrote “SO DUMB (complimentary)” in my notebook several times,’ he added.

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‘The Naked Gun is funny. It’s very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very funny. Very,’ insisted William Bibbiani for The Wrap – and yes, that’s 16 ‘verys’ overall.

‘A fresh, fun and uproariously funny laugh riot that honours its source material and reinvents it for a whole new audience and generation. You’ll laugh until it hurts, and it’ll feel great,’ insisted Adam Graham for Detroit News, while another critic praised the movie’s potentially miraculous abilities.

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Liam Neeson in a scene from "The Naked Gun." (Paramount Pictures via AP)
The movie has been praised as ‘so dumb’ and ‘an assault on the comedic senses’ (Picture: Paramount Pictures)

‘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,’ raved Bilge Ebiri for Vulture.

‘The fourth instalment of The Naked Gun is the movie we never knew we needed. It’s an assault (and battery) on the comedic senses – packed with gut-busting hilarity. Easily, the funniest film of the year,’ promised FandomWire’s M.N. Miller.

For those wondering if Neeson – known far more for his thrillers and serious fare like Schindler’s List – could pull off such silly fare, it appears that fear has been allayed as well.

‘Neeson is so perfectly cast here, his Taken image so ingrained, that you really can’t imagine who could pull this off any better,’ wrote Pete Hammond for Deadline.

One of the movie’s taglines even leans into Neeson’s Taken legacy, reading: ‘Only one man has the particular set of skills – to lead Police Squad and save the world.’

This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Liam Neeson, left, and Kevin Durand in a scene from "The Naked Gun." (Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures via AP)
Neeson is the son of the franchise’s original character Frank Drebin, famously played by Leslie Nielsen (Picture: Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures)
This image released by Paramount Pictures shows Pamela Anderson in a scene from "The Naked Gun." (Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures via AP)
The Naked Gun currently boasts 91% on Rotten Tomatoes (Picture: Frank Masi/Paramount Pictures)

British critics have also been charmed so it appears the humour is transatlantic, with Ed Potton noting for The Times in a four-star review: ‘The director has grabbed what could have been a poisoned chalice and downed it in one.’

‘See it with an audience, and experience the rare and wonderful pleasure of a crowd scrambling to keep up with one of the stupidest films it’s ever seen,’ urged The Telegraph’s Robbie Collin.

The Naked Gun reboot has been in the works at Paramount for years, with a fourth film – The Naked Gun: What 4? Rhythm of Evil – planned as a direct-to-TV sequel in 2009.

POLICE SQUAD
Nielsen in Police Squad, the TV show that went on to spawn the Naked Gun franchise (Picture: ABC Photo Archives/Disney General Entertainment Content via Getty)

It was set to follow on from 1994’s Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult but ended up cancelled for budgetary reasons, with Nielsen dying in 2010.

In 2013, development initially began again on a sequel with The Hangover star Ed Helms as Frank Drebin, before MacFarlane came onboard in 2021 after the movie had been changed to focus on Drebin’s son and he had shared his idea for hiring Neeson.

The Naked Gun is out in cinemas on Friday, August 1.

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