Critic Naked Gun film reviews

Naked Gun

1988

Overall rating: 3.5 out of 5

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We know we're in a 1988 film when we're invited to laugh at O.J. Simpson in an opening slapstick sequence. We can also pinpoint the year of production when hard-nosed cop Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen), during a scuffle with the world's leading dictators, wipes the wine-colored birthmark off the head of Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev. Those wacky ZAZ boys -- David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker -- serve up a feature-length spin-off of their cult favorite TV show Police Squad!. Seeking vengeance when his partner (Simpson) is shot full of holes by drug dealers, dead-pan and dead-brained Lt. Frank Drebin searches for the Mister Big behind it all. Drebin suspects above-reproach shipping magnate Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalban), but he can't prove a thing. Bumped from the force by the mayor (Nancy Marchand), Drebin, with the unexpected assistance of Ludwig's ex-girlfriend (Priscilla Presley), manages to nab the bad guy at a baseball game, where Reggie Jackson has been programmed to assassinate Queen Elizabeth. MGM mogul Irving Thalberg once reportedly told the Marx Brothers, You can't build jokes on top of jokes. The producers of Naked Gun prove otherwise; indeed, one could develop writer's cramp just listing the gags in the film's first 20 minutes. Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad was followed by two lesser but still hilarious sequels, Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994).~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Naked Gun details

Formats:	15 DVD, Blu-ray
Starring:	O.J. Simpson, Ricardo Montalban, Leslie Nielsen, 'Weird Al' Yankovic, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy
Director:	David Zucker
Genres:	Action/Adventure - Crime, Comedy - Spoof
Studio:	PARAMOUNT HOME ENTERTAINMENT
Collections:	100 Cops & Robbers, 100 Eighties Greats

Name	Discs
Naked Gun	15 Feature

DVD Information

Run time:	1 hour 21 minutes
Rental release:	09 Apr 2001
Main languages:	English
Dubbed:	German
Subtitles:	Arabic, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, German, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Romanian, Swedish, Turkish
Hearing impaired subtitles:	English

Name	Discs
Naked Gun	15 Feature

Blu-ray Information

Run time:	1 hour 25 minutes
Rental release:	26 Sep 2011
Main languages:	English

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Most helpful review Naked Gun

Sight-gags and deadpan humour at its finest

By Richard Cann from Edinburgh, Scotland , 07 Jul 2004

[Highly rated reviewer]

A movie length version of the short-lived US TV series 'Police Squad', this is the 'Airplane' team's take on the cop thriller genre.

Sight-gags all over the place rewards repeat viewing. Leslie Neilson is superb as the jaw-droppingly dim and insensitive Frank Drebbin. Ricardo Montalban is excellent as well. Even OJ Simpson is funny (!).

The short length means that it's just one joke after another (and some simultaneously!). Outstanding.
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Classic comedy

By Filthgrinder (1 review) , 24 Oct 2012

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS Show review anywayHide

If you're Leslie Nielsen fan you have to see it, if not - you should as your first one. The classic comedy with so many catchphrases I cannot list them all here. My favourite - when Frank Drebin leans over to the drawer searching the bad guy's office and shouts 'Bingo!'... and takes out a Bingo card. Hillarious scenes, every each a classic that should be an example with which all other comedies should be measured. I can recommend it to everyone who likes bursting out with a laugh every few seconds.
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No wheelchairs

By a customer , 12 May 2012

Very silly and funny, what more is there to say? I have been asked to write more words but really is this necessary?
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hillarious and brilliant

By cheesekake (1282 reviews) from uk , 06 Apr 2012

any film that nielsen was in was just brillaint cause he could take a simple subject and just make it hillarious. This film isnt any exception.

defo worth watching.

Denise Nielsen R. I. P. you were and are unforgetable
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Completely daft and most certainly very silly

By andrewbowden (6 reviews) from London , 03 Apr 2012

Completely daft and most certainly very silly, this is not a high brow film. No. This is not an arthouse classic, or a seminal movie that will change your life.

What it will do is make you laugh. A lot. If you've ever watched Police Squad you'll recognise many of the jokes, but that just makes them funnier.

At its heart is the fantastic Leslie Nielson, but the rest of the cast is superb too.
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I love Leslie Nielsen

By gianino (618 reviews) from London , 18 Jul 2010

I just love him; the movie is cool but the four stars are mainly for him. Funny & funnier! Wicked!!!!
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