New Comedy Reboot Gets Glowing Praise From Andy Samberg

Liam Neeson’s The Naked Gun isn’t pulling punches based on the trailers, which echo the irreverent, slapstick comedy of the original. Here’s what audiences can expect from the reboot, according to Andy Samberg from Saturday Night Live.

One of TV’s best comedians just weighed in on The Naked Gun reboot, and things are looking bright for the franchise. Andy Samberg told ScreenRant the film is best experienced in packed theaters. “Everyone I’ve seen it with all walked out saying the same thing, which is, like, ‘I didn’t realize how much I missed that feeling of a pure, silly comedy that’s all jokes, wall to wall, in a theater,’” he said. Samberg is no stranger to slapstick and improv, having starred for seven years in Saturday Night Live.

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Samberg is also part of the comedy trio The Lonely Island, along with Jorma Taccone and The Naked Gun director Akiva Schaffer. “We’re not in Naked Gun, but Naked Gun is so good,” Samberg clarified. “It’s just pure joy. I mean, I’m biased, obviously; Akiva is my guy. I went to a lot of friends and family screenings and test screenings–stuff like that. Me and Akiva are always involved in each other’s stuff, and I think he just crushed it.”

Liam Neeson Goes All-In Comedy In The Naked Gun

The film’s biggest surprise is arguably Liam Neeson, who up to this point has established himself as an action star. Having led serious dramas like Schindler’s List and Les Misérables, 2008’s Taken signalled a sudden shift in Neeson’s career; that film proved he can play a hard-hitting, ruthless protagonist, in The Grey and A Walk Among the Tombstones. He did offer a glimpse of his comedic chops in an Anchorman 2 cameo, but in The Naked Gun, he’s going all out.

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Following the template of the Leslie Nielsen original, The Naked Gun reboot will deliver relentless campy humor. It also doesn’t shirk from double entendres: a snippet from the trailer teased a seemingly risque scene with co-star Pamela Anderson, who’s taking her next bold step after The Last Showgirl. Neeson and Anderson’s pairing is reminiscent of Nielsen and Anna Nicole Smith’s, whose onscreen chemistry was palpable in Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. “Liam is so funny at it; he’s so good. Pam’s so good at it,” Samberg continued. “I’m really excited for them. I hope everybody goes and sees it because it’s super funny.“

Anderson joins The Naked Gun reboot with a vengeance, having been passed over in favor of Smith in The Final Insult. Anderson said her roundabout return to the franchise was kismet. “[Neeson] comes from theater and Schindler’s List and has done over a hundred films,” she told Entertainment Weekly. “And I did things inside out and backwards, came from television, and then my personal life kind of overshadowed my professional life. We all come to this place in different ways, but to be able to share this experience with him is very meaningful and such an honor.”

The Naked Gun hits theaters on Aug. 1.

Source: ScreenRant, Entertainment Weekly