Some say directing is 90% casting. In the case of Leslie Nielsen as Lt. Frank Drebin, it was more like 110%.
The choice of Nielsen for “Police Squad!” and the subsequent “Naked Gun” movies deserves a special place in the annals of brilliant casting choices. Surely you could say that the masters of spoof — David Zucker, Jim Abrahams and Jerry Zucker — first struck gold in putting Nielsen in “Airplane!” But why, exactly, Nielsen was so perfect for 1988’s “The Naked Gun” is natural to ponder during Akiva Schaffer’s spirited but just off-the-mark reboot, starring Liam Neeson.
Neeson, like Nielsen, has lived largely in dramatic roles most of his career, so he’s seemingly a good candidate to not just play it straight, but deadly serious. Nielsen, a ’50s leading man reborn in ‘80s slapstick, once said he had been cast against type all his career until “Police Squad!” came along. So when he, as Drebin, suggested “a great, little out of the way place that serves Viking food,” Nielsen wasn’t just delivering a line with perfect deadpan. He was self-actualizing.
You can’t say the same for Neeson in “The Naked Gun.” He’s plenty game; commitment isn’t the issue. But in this sometimes witty ode to the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker style of satire, the role never feels quite right for him, despite the phonetic connections.
There have been a few notable exceptions, but the big-screen comedy has grown almost nonexistent lately. So it would be easy to hail “The Naked Gun” as something better than it is, since it simply existing is cause for celebration. But like most reboots, particularly comedy ones, the best thing about the new “Naked Gun” is that it might send you back to the original.
This one comes from an entirely new generation. Schaffer, the behind-the-scenes member of Lonely Island, directs and Seth MacFarlane produces. The script is by Schaffer, Dan Gregor (“Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers,” “Dolittle”) and Doug Mand.
Those are some disparate comic sensibilities, but they together prove fairly adept at channeling the wry rhythms of Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker. David Zucker, himself, has been skeptical; he’s said he couldn’t “unsee” the trailer. The scene from that trailer happens to be the first in movie. During a bank heist, a little schoolgirl calmly walks in before Lt. Frank Drebin Jr. (Neeson) reveals himself. Unmasked, he stands up tall still wearing a now very skimpy schoolgirl uniform.
The tone of that moment — a little grotesque, straining to be eye-catching, seemingly made for the trailer — belongs more to contemporary comedies than “The Naked Gun.” The good news is that there’s no worse scene in the movie.
“The Naked Gun” soon enough stabilizes in a more deadpan register. Neeson’s Drebin is the son of Nielsen’s lieutenant. The film gives him a quick hat tip when Drebin pauses in front of a plaque of his father in the police department. If you’re wondering how the movie handles O.J. Simpson’s legacy, another officer momentarily stands before the same plaque for Nordberg before deciding not to.
The quips are good, though. Drebin, watching footage of him enraged on a previous case, seethes, “I was furious about the Janet Jackson Super Bowl.” “That was 20 years ago!” someone replies. Another exchange: “You can’t fight City Hall.” “It’s a building.”
You could make a good case that a diet of such wordplay is all one, really, needs. There are definite pleasures in seeing this tradition of dumb-but-smart comedy carried on. Also giving the film a lift is Pamela Anderson, playing the distraught sister of a man killed in an electric vehicle crash. The villain this time is a tech mogul, played with typical sleazy panache by Danny Huston. Once again, a police procedural serves as the movie’s framework, complete with shadow-forming Venetian blinds and hardboiled monologuing. This time, though, thanks to Nielsen’s flinty presence (and all those “Taken” thrillers), you half believe him as a tough detective.
Who might have played Drebin? The best answers I could come up with are Bryan Cranston or maybe Morgan Freeman. But I also, after going back to rewatch the original, suspect there’s just no topping Nielsen. It has to be up there among the greatest comic performances, and the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker wit surrounding him only feels more out of reach after this well-meaning homage. But if you disagree, I’m sure that we can handle this situation maturely, just like the responsible adults that we are. Isn’t that right, Mr. Poopy Pants?
“Naked Gun,” a Paramount Pictures release is rated PG-13 by the Motion Picture Association for crude/sexual material, violence/bloody images and brief partial nudity. Running time: 85 minutes. Two stars out of four.
