I agree; it looks absolutely terrible. The trailers are supposed to make the film look good. This did not.
That “mm mm” was the funniest bit in the trailer.
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.
Walks up to the robot “I have a certain set of skills…”
This casting doesn’t surprise me. Leslie Nielsen to Liam Neeson? What could be more natural?
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.
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.
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.
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.
He’s one of the best parts of Woody Allen’s Husbands and Wives.
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.
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.
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.
FYI:
Leslie Nielsen was 54 when Airplane! came out.
Liam Neeson will be 73 when this movie opens.
And looks younger than Leslie did in the first movie.
All that white hair made Leslie look older.
And the little skirt makes Liam look younger.
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.”
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.
Exhibit B
Loved that scene.