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Edmonton Journal
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Naked Gun co-stars Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson are reportedly dating
Article content In a move that couldn't come soon enough for movie marketers, Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson, stars of this Friday's new movie The Naked Gun, are said to be dating. Article content A source close to the movie told People magazine: 'It's a budding romance in the early stages. It's sincere, and it's clear they're smitten with each other.' Article content Neeson, 73, stars in the movie as Frank Drebin Jr., son of Leslie Nielsen's character from the original Naked Gun series. That began with the short-lived TV series Police Squad! (it ran for just six episodes in 1982), which then was spun off into three films. They were The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988), The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear (1991) and Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994). Article content Article content Nielsen got his start as a serious actor before making his way into such comedies as Airplane! and Dracula: Dead and Loving It. Neeson, similarly, has seen his career careen over time. He began with serious roles — he starred in Schindler's List while Nielsen was making Naked Gun sequels — and then transitioned into being an action hero (Taken came out in 2008) before this new move into comedy. Article content Article content Anderson, 58, plays Drebin's love interest, Beth, in the new movie; roughly the same role played by Priscilla Presley in the first Naked Gun film. Famous for TV's Baywatch in the 1990s, Anderson has moved between dramatic and comedic roles since then, with the latter including Scary Movie 3, Superhero Movie (also with fellow Canadian Nielsen) and 2006's Borat, where she performed so well in a cameo as herself that many people at the time believed she'd been unaware she was in a movie. Article content Article content Neeson and Anderson each brought their sons with them to a red-carpet premiere of The Naked Gun in New York on Monday. Anderson has two sons — Brandon, 29, and Dylan, 27, with ex-husband Tommy Lee — while Neeson has two sons, Micheál, 30, and Daniel, 28, with late wife Natasha Richardson, who died in 2009 after a skiing accident in Quebec. Article content Article content People reported that, the next day, the two stars pretended to be caught making out on live TV, a possible reference to the recent 'kisscam' debacle at a Coldplay concert. An earlier interview from October had Neeson saying he was 'madly in love' with his co-star, whom he called 'funny and so easy to work with.' She reciprocated, calling Neeson 'the perfect gentleman' and adding: 'It was an absolute honour to work with him.'
New Statesman
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- New Statesman
The return of The Naked Gun is a sparkling success
Illustration by Kristian Hammerstad It's common complaint these days that you just can't make the jokes you used to onscreen. Cancel culture and political correctness have killed the comedy. Not only do audiences not want to watch funny movies any more; writers, directors and actors don't seem to know how to make them. The new The Naked Gun, the fourth film in the spoof-comedy franchise which arrives 31 years after the previous instalment, shoves two fingers up at this idea. It's a very, very funny film; so cheerful and light on its feet that it all but erases the outside world for 85 sparkling minutes, replacing it with a better one in which cops fart audibly while they're on patrol and villains end up getting their nuts pummelled. Liam Neeson stars as Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr, son of the LA cop so memorably played by Leslie Nielsen in the original films. Staring at his father's portrait in the police station early on in the film, Drebin Jr explains his motivations: 'I want to be just like you,' he murmurs with reverence, 'but at the same time also be completely different and original.' His opportunity to prove himself arises when he is brought in to investigate the murder of a tech worker at a company run by the billionaire Richard Cane (a deliciously evil Danny Huston). Like his late father, Drebin is far from infallible: he initially dismisses the murder as suicide – until the sister of the victim, the sensuous crime author Beth (Pamela Anderson), insists he look into it properly. The jokes come thick and fast. As is traditional, many are visual gags: people getting run over, people falling down stairs, Neeson dressed as a little girl in a kilt. Other jokes draw, with fine comic timing, on misunderstandings. 'Please, take a chair,' Drebin tells Beth when she arrives at his office to discuss her brother's murder. 'No thank you, I have plenty of chairs at home,' she replies tartly, in a cheap-gag format familiar from Drebin senior's earliest iteration in Police Squad!, the 1982 TV show that launched the franchise. Despite the zaniness, the plot is no afterthought. If the jokes were ditched and the baddies made less panto, you could even squeeze a Pierce Brosnan-era Bond film out of it. Cane, we learn, has developed a gizmo that, when turned on, turns normal people into screaming chimps desperate to kill one another. His aim is to use the device to reset a world he considers to be ruined: let most of the population wipe itself out, then build back better with a chosen few. Not everything works. There are ostentatious reminders that all is artifice. In a fight scene, Drebin is shown very obviously punching a stuffed mannequin, and later both Neeson and Anderson are momentarily replaced by body doubles who look only vaguely like them. It's a confident move, displaying the seams of the film in this way, but it does rather pitch the audience out of the story. The comedy falters, too. In one sequence, Drebin and Beth steal away for a romantic weekend, and a snowman they make comes freakily to life. The lift-off from spoof action film to something more surreal and whimsical feels awkward. In other cases, jokes are repeated over and over until they lose their charm. But the film has such a high hit rate, it scarcely matters. You feel grateful that the writers and actors are giving it such a good go. In an interview with You magazine that fed rumours of a romance between himself and Anderson, Neeson has said that that lists of 'alts' were provided on set for jokes that didn't work. This seems key to the film's success: the comedy feels fresh and improvised, appealingly alive. It's a real achievement by the director, Akiva Schaffer: too many films today have just one or two gags that feel like they've been churned out for the sole purpose of pepping up the film's trailer. As for Neeson and Anderson, their chemistry is delightful. It's a joy to find Neeson using his hackle-raising Irish growl for comic ends, and he turns out to be more than capable of the physical buffoonery too. Anderson, meanwhile, seizes the opportunity to be silly with palpable pleasure; she seems to be laughing for real. The original Naked Gun film, made in 1988, is worth revisiting. But this one, with its cultural references brought up to date – there's a relishable gag about OJ Simpson, who starred in the first film – feels miraculously, improbably better. 'The Naked Gun' is in cinemas on 1 August [See also: 'The Bad Guys 2' is the sequel this summer needed] Subscribe to The New Statesman today from only £8.99 per month Subscribe Related
Edmonton Journal
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Edmonton Journal
Pamela Anderson gushes over Liam Neeson in 'Naked Gun' reboot
Article content The update follows Frank Jr. as he and members of the Los Angeles Police Squad try to solve the murder of a computer programmer. His investigation brings him into conflict with an evil tech billionaire (Danny Huston) who is looking to wipe out most of humanity. Article content The cast also includes Kevin Durand, CCH Pounder, Eddie Yu, WWE star Cody Rhodes and Liza Koshy. Article content MacFarlane admitted on the red carpet that after he worked with Neeson on A Million Ways to Die in the West and Ted 2, he wanted to see the Oscar nominee try his hand at something really outrageous. Article content 'He's what every comedy writer wants in an actor. He trusts the material completely, plays it completely earnestly and he's incredibly selfless,' MacFarlane said. Article content When David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams (collectively known as ZAZ) created Drebin for the short-lived Police Squad! before the first Naked Gun movie in 1988, they looked to cast a serious actor, setting their sights on Nielsen. Article content Article content 'When the Zucker brothers made Airplane! and the original Naked Gun, you had Peter Graves, Robert Stack, Leslie Neilson; guys who were deadly serious actors who knew not to try and do the comedy,' MacFarlane said. 'I think Liam Neeson is the only actor alive in 2025 who has that vibe.' Article content Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, who co-wrote the reboot with Schaffer, said the film only got greenlit when Neeson said he was interested in doing it. Article content 'When Liam Neeson said he wanted to do the movie, that's when this all became real,' Gregor said. 'He's built up that level of seriousness over 40-plus years of work and a 100-something movies and by some miracle he let us spend some capital on this.' Article content 'He wanted to do it and he seemed to get it. He was a fan and he understood the assignment. He's effortlessly funny,' Mand added. Article content Article content Gregor and Mand also praised the chemistry between the two co-stars. Article content Article content 'Talk about hot,' Gregor joked. 'Immediately there was a rapport between them. It was movie magic … Their love for one another is genuine and real and hopefully it comes across on screen.' Article content When it opens in cinemas this weekend, the creative team behind the remake isn't just hoping to revive a nearly 30-year-old comedy franchise — they're also betting they can convince audiences to come out movie theatres again. Article content People 'need to giggle' Neeson said, with MacFarlane adding that he has been wanting to make a new Naked Gun for over a decade. Article content
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
The Naked Gun review: Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson are locked, loaded (and dating) but reboot is a misfire
Before being wiped out in a mid-Noughties cultural asteroid strike, the Manly Man was the saviour of broads and the growler of old-school, no-nonsense truths, all done while taking out the bad guys. You knew where you stood with him. Liam Neeson, should you need reminding, has done well for himself since turning his back on critical worthiness and restyling himself as the last of the machos. Who better to bring Police Squad! hero Lieutenant Frank Drebin to the attention of a new generation than Ballymena's Taken titan. In the hands of the late, great Leslie Nielsen, the original three Naked Gun instalments were the pinnacle of pulling down Mr Macho's trousers and slapping his face with a custard pie. Nielsen looked like your uncle, spoke like a Hollywood-noir pastiche, and buffooned with a straight face like the master clown that he was. We know Neeson can do comedy. Or at least, we know he's well able to self-parody the macho archetype that has become his bread and butter. 'I've played Rob Roy MacGregor, Michael Collins, Oskar Schindler, Zeus for God's sake,' he deadpans brilliantly during a improv sketch in Ricky Gervais's Life's Too Short. 'No one's going to believe me as a greengrocer.' Thus we find Neeson unsurprisingly game in this reboot from Akiva Schaffer, even if, at 73, he might be a few years past his rubbery best (Nielsen had three feature outings as Drebin wrapped by age 68). The issue for Schaffer's film (produced somewhat predictably by Seth MacFarlane) is more that big-screen comedy has changed in the three or four decades since those originals forged by Jim Abrahams and the Zucker brothers. We rarely see such cartoonish, rapid-fire, shamelessly bawdy fare in cinemas these days. Gone the same way as the Manly Man, you might say. An unenviable task, then, and from early doors this superfluously revamped Naked Gun has a clunky feel that it struggles to shake. After an abominably rubbish intro scene, we're quickly debriefed that Neeson is Frank Drebin Jr. No sooner is he doffing his cap to a portrait of Nielsen's character at police HQ than an OJ Simpson gag prepares us for what will be a low-brow hour-and-a-half ahead. He and partner Ed (Paul Walter Hauser) are assigned to a murder case that is somehow linked to a powerful tech mogul (Danny Huston on wolfish autopilot). To the sound of saxophones, the stakes rise sharply with the arrival of the victim's glamorous sister, Beth (played by one of this film's few mercies – Pamela Anderson). ADVERTISEMENT The subject of much are-they-aren't-they speculation – and they just confirmed they are dating – after recent, decidedly cuddly, red carpet appearances, Neeson and Anderson duet impeccably. Besides looking great together, they carry themselves like old pros who have been around the block and relish the chance to play exaggerated versions of themselves for laughs. Before long, there's threesome gags involving labradors and demonic snowmen as the lovebirds bond in the customary fashion of Nielsen and Priscilla Presley (who makes a blink-and-you'll-miss-it cameo). Some of this is hilarious, but not enough. A brand this roundly arch, this relentlessly silly, should be hitting you in jabs, not tickling you once every 10 minutes. Comedically pliable they may be, but Neeson and Anderson aren't given enough good writing to keep the gags landing, even the off-colour, groan-inducing kind. Too many jokes skim the bullseye, or dribble forlornly to the ground to the sound of silence. For all the giving out done by people like me about Hollywood's rampant reboot culture, this is, if anything, a case of not adhering enough to the originals, not aping them sufficiently or aligning to their parodic tone and textures. The Nielsen era was designed to look like spoof throwbacks, but this update prefers to lean into slickly shot set designs and shoddy tech-era japes, straining to get with the times. It's no coincidence it's at its funniest when it embraces those forebears, even pinching a couple of gags outright. Less a near-miss than an outright misfire. The Manly Man surely deserved better.
Winnipeg Free Press
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Winnipeg Free Press
Movie Review: Liam Neeson tries to fill Leslie Nielsen's gumshoes in a new ‘Naked Gun'
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. Weekly A weekly look at what's happening in Winnipeg's arts and entertainment scene. '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.
