Airplane definitely holds up better. Top Secret! does as well because the secret of Top Secret! is that it isn’t mocking spy movies. It’s really about making movies in general; many of the jokes are movie-making related jokes.
That’s ok. I’m dumber than I remember.
I enjoyed the TV series Police Squad and while the Naked Gun movies were ok, I didn’t like that they changed Drebbin into a Clouseau type character. The new movie looks like it is getting away from that and returning to the deadpan acting from the series and Airplane. So, as of now, I’m looking forward to seeing it. Also, I’ll add the ‘take a chair’ scene would have fit perfectly with the series.
I think people are slightly over rating the old naked gun movies. They certainly weren’t on the level of Airplane type comedy, just funny in their own right.
Police Squad was far superior but didn’t last. The Naked Gun movies dropped a lot of the dryness and hammed it up with more clownery a less deadpan absurdity.
I like the movies a lot, and they are fun. They have their moments that are more true to the series style but the series was way funnier to me. Peter Lupus was a great Nordberg.
“Nice beaver.”
There are a couple of decent gags in the trailer (the OJ Simpson one for example), but it looks like this is not quite the same genre of movie as the originals and the delivery and timing of even the gags in the trailer seemed strained and stiff. The trailer is supposed to be the highlights, so this doesn’t bode well.
Leslie Nielsen did it so naturally; impossible to follow that really.
There’s actually several African trickster rabbit figures as well as the spider.
Leslie Nielson was born on February 11, 1926. Liam Neeson was born on June 7, 1952. So it’s not that strange that a character played by Neeson could be the son of a character played by Nielson. You’d have to assume that he had Neeson’s character as a son before the first movie. This was never mentioned in the first movie.
Neilson was 62, 65, and 68 when his three movies in the franchise came out. Liam Neeson will be 73 when his movie in the franchise comes out. Actually, all those ages are rather old for a working policeman.
Thanks, I just had it stuffed.
More like the cop shows of the late 50’s/ early 60’s , in particular M-Squad.
That’s what struck me, too. The OJ gag was funny, but once after we caught the joke, the actor continued to look out at the audience and shake his head. Like, we got it the first time.
Might be one of those “laugh line pauses” they add so the copious audience guffaws don’t drown out the next line.
Sounds likely.
Who is this Lee person and why should we care if that sounds like them?
Surely you’re joking!
I thought the 4th wall break was not bad in itself, but it wasn’t at all subtle and I think the subtlety and balance is the thing this movie is struggling to understand and replicate.
The ‘take a seat’ gag, for example - I feel fairly sure in the original Police Squad this would have been played so that the person picks up the chair and quickly and quietly vanishes from shot - if you missed it, you missed the joke; you should be paying attention, or maybe you’ll notice next time you watch.
In this movie, the line is ‘take a chair’ (as though the audience won’t connect ‘take a seat’ to what follows) the character picks up the chair and we have a whole shot of the chair being dragged noisily out of the door and down the hall; it’s like they assumed the audience not only want a joke, but they also need the joke to be laboriously pointed out and explained to them; maybe some of the audience does need that, but it spoils the impact of the joke for anyone who is paying proper attention and got it the first time.
Yep, that one was the biggest example of dumbing it down that I remember.
Wow. Check this out. In Stereo!
Dang! I knew Airplane! was based heavily on Zero Hour but I didn’t know Police Squad was tracking another, serious show.