Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for The Naked Gun.The Naked Gun pulled off an impressive achievement within the parameters of a comedy sequel, as it marked a return to the style of spoof cinema that had originated with the original works of Jerry Zucker, David Zucker, and Jim Abrams. Although it is not layered with callbacks and references to the previous three entries in the franchise, The Naked Gun has the same style of puns, visual gags, and slapstick humor that would have made Leslie Nielsen proud. It may be evident that director Akiva Schaffer is a fan of this particular style of humor, but The Naked Gun is also heavily influenced by his work with The Lonely Island.
Long before he became a studio filmmaker, Shaffer developed a series of short-form videos with his friends Andy Samberg and Jorma Taccone for The Lonely Island, a comedy group that developed original content for both the MTV Movie Awards and Saturday Night Live. Similar to classic comedy troupes like Monty Python or the Marx Brothers, The Lonely Island would develop self-deprecating, absurd, and satirical music videos, many of which featured major celebrity cameos. One of the best scenes in The Naked Gun features a style of absurdist escalation that feels plucked out of a classic Lonely Island video.
‘The Naked Gun’ Reinvents a Classic Joke
One of the most memorable gags in the original The Naked Gun: From The Files of Police Squad, revolves around a romantic montage in which Nielsen’s Frank Drebin is able to consummate his relationship with Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley) in a series of increasingly ridiculous scenarios; at one point, they are memorably seen laughing while leaving a movie theater showing Oliver Stone’s Best Picture winning war film Platoon. 2025’s The Naked Gun uses the outline of the original joke, but takes it in a stranger direction that feels inspired by Schaffer’s sense of humor. Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson) experiences a similar moment of bliss when he goes on a romantic getaway with Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson) to a seemingly idealistic winter retreat. Although their romantic montage begins with standard acknowledgments of affection, it takes a supernatural direction when Beth begins an ancient ritual to bring a snowman to life. The snowman initially expresses joy, as if this were a family holiday film, but he soon becomes jealous and increasingly violent.
Escalation is the key to many of the best of The Lonely Island’s humor, as classic videos like “Great Day” or “Like a Boss” would take a straightforward premise and then push it to the extreme, often breaking the internal logic of the story through the use of supernatural elements. There’s been nothing to suggest that possessions and the summoning of spells would fit within the universe of The Naked Gun, and amusingly, the characters never comment on how unusual the situation is. The Lonely Island’s videos were able to call attention to their surrealist elements because they were largely dialogue-free and only used the lyrics of the songs to push the story forward. This is also the case with the love montage in The Naked Gun, as the sequence is set to “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now,” which parodies the song’s frequent use in classic films such as Mannequin. This allows Neeson and Anderson to show their prowess as physical comedians, as it’s their reactions of glee, shock, horror, and disgust that make the scene even funnier.
Akiva Schaffer Brings Back Classic Lonely Island Humor
Shaffer showed that he could make use of The Lonely Island-style humor without disrupting the narrative, as the scene itself has important context within the film; in addition to showing the genuine affection that Drebin has for Beth, it also satirizes the seemingly endless resources that members of Police Squad are given, despite their frequent inability to prevent crimes. It’s also evident of the broader scope of a spoof film, as while The Naked Gun is broadly making fun of the action and crime genres, this scene gives it the chance to make fun of the obliviousness of characters within horror films. Taken as a standalone scene, the romance montage in The Naked Gun could be viewed as its own work of short-form comedy based on how radically the tone shifts. However, The Naked Gun feels like more than a collection of loosely assembled sketches because Schaffer has shown his evolution as a filmmaker. Although he also directed the underrated comedies Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, Hot Rod, and Chip ‘n Dale: Rescue Rangers, The Naked Gun is arguably his most accomplished film to date.
Schaffer struck the right blend of nostalgia and innovation with The Naked Gun, as it is a film that is suited to appease audiences of different generations. Even if the vague reference to a similar scene in the original film might only be recognized by older fans, the scene is so funny on its own that it should have no issues in connecting with younger audiences. At the same time, older viewers who watched the film because of their affinity for the original might be inspired to check out more of Shaffer’s work as a result. The Naked Gun is easily one of the funniest American comedies of the past decade, but few scenes will generate as many laughs as its wild snowman gag.
The Naked Gun
- Release Date
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August 1, 2025
- Producers
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Erica Huggins
- Franchise(s)
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The Naked Gun