# New "Naked Gun" movie starting Liam Neeson **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [April 4, 2025, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612 "2025-04-04T13:16:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/21 "2025-04-04T17:02:06Z")
I agree; it looks absolutely terrible. The trailers are supposed to make the film look good. This did not. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/22 "2025-04-04T18:10:21Z")
> [@John\_DiFool](#): > > Then seeing that pic of a certain former football player on their Wall of Fame-uhh, NO. That “mm mm” was the funniest bit in the trailer. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/23 "2025-04-04T18:17:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Casting Liam Neeson against type might work in the same way it worked for Leslie Nielsen-- he and several other actors in ‘Airplane!’ were cast specifically for their reps as dead-serious types so they could play the comedy deadpan, and it worked so well, it revived Nielsen’s career in a hard ‘deadpan comedy’ left turn. That’s what I was thinking. When Nielsen hosted Saturday Night Live, he spoke during his monologue about how he wasn’t a comedic actor. He was someone who said unfunny things in an unfunny way and got big laughs, and Neeson’s performance in the trailer made me think of that. While I expect it to be an absurdist comedy like the original movies, I don’t expect it to be exactly the same. And that’s fine. I’m willing to give this movie a chance. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/24 "2025-04-04T18:27:37Z")
Walks up to the robot “I have a certain set of skills…” ---
**Author:** ![Leaper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/4bbf92/32.png) [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/25 "2025-04-04T18:46:56Z")
This casting doesn’t surprise me. Leslie Nielsen to Liam Neeson? What could be more natural? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/26 "2025-04-04T18:54:36Z")
Liam Neeson turning into a comedic actor is no stranger than what happened when Leslie Nielsen turned into a comedic actor in _Airplane!_ and _Police Squad_. Before then he wasn’t a comedic actor. Furthermore, Liam Neeson has already made one big change because of the movie _Taken_. After that he got a lot of parts as the middle-aged or older action hero. ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/27 "2025-04-04T19:07:47Z")
I’m willing to give it a chance. Neeson has always seemed to me to be surprisingly versatile, given that his other roles include the small-town American sheriff in _Leap of Faith_, and the German Oskar Schindler in _Schindler’s List_. Serious roles, yes, but that’s what made the Leslie Neilson films work so well: a serious actor takes on absurdist comedy. I think Neeson can pull this one off, so like I said, I’m willing to give it a chance. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/28 "2025-04-04T19:23:04Z")
I think he’s a good actor but he is always going to come off poorly compared to Nielsen in this, who was just perfect in that role. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/29 "2025-04-04T19:52:44Z")
I love ZAZ movies and I like Neeson as an actor. I just don’t like Seth MacFarlane so I’m not sure if I can give this movie a fair shake. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/30 "2025-04-04T19:58:09Z")
> [@Spoons](#): > > Neeson has always seemed to me to be surprisingly versatile, given that his other roles include the small-town American sheriff in _Leap of Faith_, and the German Oskar Schindler in _Schindler’s List_. He’s one of the best parts of Woody Allen’s _Husbands and Wives_. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/31 "2025-04-04T20:51:51Z")
> [@iamatractorboy](#): > > I agree; it looks absolutely terrible. The trailers are supposed to make the film look good. This did not. I thought it was hilarious and absolutely perfectly captured the Naked Gun humor. Whether that humor is still viable today is a different question, but that teaser assured me they can do a Naked Gun movie. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/32 "2025-04-04T21:13:25Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Liam Neeson turning into a comedic actor is no stranger than what happened when Leslie Nielsen turned into a comedic actor in _Airplane!_ and _Police Squad_. Before then he wasn’t a comedic actor. But that doesn’t mean that any serious actor can do comedy. It’s hard for me to imagine the original _Police Squad/Naked Gun_ movies working anywhere near as well with anyone else in place of Leslie Nielsen. I’m reserving judgment on this new one, but I’m not particularly optimistic. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/33 "2025-04-04T21:26:19Z")
I’m not arguing that it’s certain that Neeson can do comedy. I’m arguing that it’s possible that he can. Some of the posts above seem to say that he can’t possibly do it. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/34 "2025-04-04T21:27:55Z")
FYI: Leslie Nielsen was 54 when _Airplane!_ came out. Liam Neeson will be 73 when this movie opens. ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/35 "2025-04-04T21:33:59Z")
And looks younger than Leslie did in the first movie. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/36 "2025-04-04T21:35:41Z")
All that white hair made Leslie look older. And the little skirt makes Liam look younger. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/37 "2025-04-04T21:47:21Z")
I told my wife and her reaction was: **LIAM NEESON???** (there were 15 more question marks but Discourse cut them off) I think there might be a problem with “wlling suspension of disbelief.” ---
**Author:** ![SenorBeef](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senorbeef/32/2220_2.png) [@SenorBeef](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SenorBeef)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/38 "2025-04-04T21:48:43Z")
I’m actually optimistic about this. Liam Neeson is a great pick - he has gravitas and utter seriousness but knows how to use that for comedy, similar to Nielson. The actiony parts of the opening scene are a little silly but didn’t the Naked Gun movies open up with improbable action scenes too? And the dead fathers scene was straight out of one of the original naked gun movies. Akiva Schaffer has made some really good spoofs and Seth McFarlane made a great love letter to Star Trek in the Orville and I can see him doing that with Naked Gun. It’s definitely not a cash in – kids these days aren’t familiar with the Naked Gun movies and it doesn’t really have franchise power. It looks more like a labor of love for people who like absurdist comedies. I’m in. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [April 4, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/39 "2025-04-04T23:44:00Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > Casting Liam Neeson against type might work in the same way it worked for Leslie Nielsen-- he and several other actors in ‘Airplane!’ were cast specifically for their reps as dead-serious types so they could play the comedy deadpan, and it worked so well, it revived Nielsen’s career in a hard ‘deadpan comedy’ left turn. > > Exhibit A: > > [https://youtu.be/yvVFvqd3lqA](https://youtu.be/yvVFvqd3lqA) Exhibit B [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/z6ViDZpVoYc/maxresdefault.jpg "Ted 2 (1/10) Movie CLIP - Trix Are for Kids (2015) HD") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6ViDZpVoYc) ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [April 5, 2025, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612/40 "2025-04-05T00:07:05Z")
Loved that scene. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/new-naked-gun-movie-starting-liam-neeson/1016612.md?page=3)