Police Squad and The Naked Gun movies remain something of a masterclass in deadpan. The whole thing hinges on the dry delivery of the punchlines, all rotating around the excellence of Leslie Nielsen.
It’s really a delicate balancing of subtlety somehow co-existing with an obvious comedic sledgehammer to the face. It just works, when it really shouldn’t.
So it could be lightning in a bottle, hard to recreate. The first teaser trailer for the new The Naked Gun movie pointed to failure.
Standard comedy existing where deadpan was required. Subtlety absent.
The good news is that the new trailer shows us more, and there are a few moments where what is shown seems to hit the beats required.
In this version, Liam Neeson stars as Detective Frank Drebin Jr. with Paul Walter Hauser as his partner Ed. They are both the sons of Leslie Nielsen and George Kennedy’s characters.
Pamela Anderson joins Kevin Durand, Danny Houston, and CCH Pounder as the supporting cast.
It is written by Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, with Akiva Schaffer directing.
Seth MacFarlane (Family Guy) and Erica Huggins are producing .
The Naked Gun is out in theaters on August 1st.
