Insider Says That Seth MacFarlane’s ‘Naked Gun’ Reboot Is a ‘Completely Uninspired Beat-for-Beat Remake of the First Film’
Next summer, the Naked Gun franchise is set to return to theaters with Seth MacFarlane producing and Liam Neeson playing Frank Drebin Jr., the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character. But one person who has read the script cautions comedy fans not to get their hopes up, calling the reboot “appallingly unoriginal” and a “beat-for-beat remake of the first film.”
This source also revealed several spoilers about the plot to me.
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Much like his father did in the 1988 film, Frank Drebin Jr. will get dropped from the police force and the final conflict will take place at a sporting event, though this time it’s supposedly a wrestling match instead of a baseball game. And just as Nielsen fell in love with the conflicted assistant of the bad guy in the original (played Priscilla Presley), Frank Drebin Jr. will fall in love with the conflicted assistant of the bad guy in the reboot (played by Pamela Anderson), though my source notes that Anderson’s character is “a smidgen” more intelligent than Presley’s was. There’s even a predictably goofy we’re-in-love montage in the reboot, just like the original.
As for who Anderson is working for, the villain is a clear stand-in for Elon Musk, given that he’s a tech entrepreneur known for new car technology. His dastardly plan is to “reboot the human race,” reverting everyone back to primates.
While it was previously reported that the new movie is both a reboot and a legacy sequel, my source says the script leans heavily on the father-son angle, with there being a shrine to Drebin Sr. that Neeson talks to, asking things like, “What would you do, dad?”
Mostly, though, my source says the script just isn’t that funny, largely filled with tired and generic cop jokes. “It feels very much like a 1980s movie, but more like a knockoff, more like National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon than The Naked Gun,” they maintain.
They also report that the humor in the film is very safe and “constrained,” being careful not to say anything even remotely offensive to anyone. Instead, it triples down on toilet humor. There’s allegedly even a car chase motivated by Drebin Jr.’s diarrhea.
At least that gives him something interesting to talk to the Drebin Sr. shrine about.