New ‘Naked Gun’ Trailer Pushes Nostalgia Past Its Limit

I am guilty of pushing my nostalgia on others, but I think we, as a society, are reaching a breaking point… In the entertainment industry. Movies and TV have become photocopies of photocopies in terms of what is being produced. Remakes, reboots, and sequels dominate the airwaves (do we still say that?) in a way that feels creatively void. It also feels forced in a way that is starting to be unintentionally comedic. Just look at Freddy Prinze Jr.’s entrance in the new I Know What You Did Last Summer trailer and try not to laugh. But, can you make that comedy intentional?

That’s what the new Naked Gun movie is… maybe trying to do? Starring Liam Neeson, Pam Anderson, and Paul Walter Hauser, the reboot of the franchise made successful by Leslie Nielsen, is returning this summer. It’s co-written and directed by Lonely Island member Akiva Schaffer and is produced by Seth MacFarlane. A new trailer for the film has emerged, and it is certainly trying to be funny, returning to the over-the-top nature of the films that preceded it, but is that enough?

The last Naked Gun film hit theaters over thirty years ago. Plenty of older movies have seen sequels and reboots as executives try to send us back in time, but there is often more of a built-in audience. I genuinely don’t know who this movie is for. As former director of the franchise, David Zucker, pointed out recently, it’s not even making fun of something that exists anymore. Cop shows are not what they were when Police Squad turned into Naked Gun, nor are action movies. Plus, modern cop shows have already been skewered by Paul Scheer on NTSF: SD: SUV. They’re going back to a well that has been bled dry.

There are attempts at making fun of the nostalgia of it all, with several cops crying over the death of their franchise counterparts, save for the Moses Jones’s character, who refuses to mourn O.J. Simpson. The gag was already included in the teaser, and gets less funny every time I see it. It also isn’t helpful that Jones’s character is listed as “Young Police Officer” on IMDB. That could be adjusted, or end up as some unfortunate foreshadowing of how his character gets treated.

Most of the gags feel stale. Leslie Neelson doesn’t have the same timing or delivery as Leslie Nielsen. The whole thing feels like a product of a bygone era. There is some modern influence, especially regarding action. But there’s also what appears to be a joke about Police Body Cams that appears to be an excuse to give Neeson diarrhea from a hot dog and see him deal with it from that point of view. These movies are designed to push buttons, but that moment feels tone-deaf in a way that’s just as concerning as Moses Jones’s character.

I could be wrong, and this film could end up being dumb fun. Maybe the trailer is cut together to appeal to the broadest audience, which includes explaining a joke about “mans laughter”… in the middle of the joke. Perhaps the movie will be big, dumb fun, but with a bite. But right now, it looks like it will just be dumb. That still might be fine, but I don’t think that will push the nostalgia buttons the crew is hoping for. Or, maybe it’s just something we shouldn’t be nostalgic for.