The Naked Gun

What was the last truly funny comedy film you saw in theaters? Not just a movie with laughs, but an unabashed farce. We used to get at least one mega comedy hit every year, with films like The Hangover, Anchorman, and Bridesmaids defining the zeitgeist and setting the tone for years, jam-packed with quotes we still use today.

Lately? Sure, A Real Pain was funny, but that Oscar-winning film had strong dramatic undertones. Barbie was a worldwide sensation filled with clever jokes, but it tugged at your heartstrings too. Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery is loaded with gags, but it is still a whodunit at the end of the day. Since the lockdown, some of Hollywood's funniest flicks have gone straight to streaming due to a lack of box office appeal, especially after theatrical misfires like Bros and Booksmart. Great comedies like Palm Springs, Barb & Star, Hit Man, and more have quietly found success on streaming platforms. But finally… after seven long months… 2025 has been struck by true comedic dynamite: The Naked Gun.

No, not that one.

Not The Naked Gun 2½.

Nope, not The Naked Gun 33⅓ either.

I’m talking about The Naked Gun (2025), starring none other than the man with a very particular set of skills… Liam Neeson. 

The Naked Gun (2025) is hands-down the funniest movie of the year. It is 90 minutes of nonstop gags, laugh-out-loud moments, references, slapstick, sharp satire, and everything in between. It knows exactly what it is from the very first second, and it never lets up. Akiva Schaffer has delivered yet another instant classic.

Schaffer, who previously directed cult favorite Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, produced the aforementioned Palm Springs, and is a core member of The Lonely Island writing team, absolutely knocks this romp out of the park. The beauty of The Naked Gun (2025) is that you could drop into any scene in this quick-paced ride and crack up within 60 seconds. I am not exaggerating; the film has an outstanding joke every 30 seconds. I won’t spoil the best gags, but this film has something for every kind of sense of humor. Physical comedy? Check. Slapstick? For days! Puns, dry humor, spoof, gross-out, visual gags, even some twisted dark jokes… they’re all in there. Even the credits are jam-packed with jokes!

But this film’s sheer hilarity would not work without Liam Neeson. Depending on your age, you might know Neeson from different corners of cinema. Older crowds might remember his dramatic chops in the Best Picture winning Schindler’s List. Millennials might picture him in that long string of gritty, low-budget action flicks trying to recapture the lightning of Taken. But The Naked Gun introduces the 6’4” Irishman to a whole new generation in arguably his coolest role yet: Frank Drebin Jr., son of the iconic Police Squad detective made legendary by Leslie Nielsen.

Inside The Naked Gun (2025), Neeson shows us something we rarely get to see: his incredible comedic timing. We got a little taste of it during his cameo on the Emmy-winning Atlanta, but Neeson is firing on all cylinders here and delivers some of the film’s biggest laughs. Whether he is raving about his love for The Black Eyed Peas, interrogating Busta Rhymes, or building a snowman, he absolutely kills it.

I urge everyone to check out The Naked Gun (2025). Not just because I adored it, not just because it is the loudest I have heard a theater laughing since the pandemic, but because we need more straight comedies on the big screen. The success of The Naked Gun (2025) could pave the way for a true comedy comeback, one where movie theaters once again become a place to gather and just laugh. If we keep supporting movies like this, we might just return to those glory days of the early 2010s, when theatrical comedies felt like cultural events and we had a new comedic sensation every few months.

9/10