There are some movies that are best left
in the year they originated. It’s not
that they necessarily reflect or define that year. It’s more that they’re a product of that year
and don’t really age that well. I
remember liking The Naked Gun when it first came out. Having watched it again recently, I find that
I’m not as amused.
The movie starts with Lieutenant Frank
Drebin breaking up a conference of world despots in Beirut. Once back in Los Angeles, he learns that his
partner, Nordberg, has been injured trying to take down a heroin
operation. What follows is a series of
more dated humor as Drebin tries to stop an assassination attempt on the Queen
of England.
The best example of the humor is the
summit of world despots at the beginning of the movie. There are six leaders, including Fidel Castro
and Mikhail Gorbachev. None of them are
in office anymore and I don’t know that most high-school graduates would have
any meaningful recollection of any of them.
In fact, I think Gorbachev is the only one still alive, but none of the
names would be found in the current-events section of the newspaper.
Stopping the assassination is an uphill
battle for Drebin, since no one believes the criminal is the criminal. He’s a respected businessman who plans to use
hypnosis to get someone else to commit the actual assassination. All Drebin knows is that it’s a member of
what was then the California Angels. So,
he has to search every member of the home team to see who has a gun.
This movie is by the same group that
brought you Airplane! and Top Secret!.
The humor is going to be in the same vein, like having a character named
Pahpshmir. It’s something I’d recommend
renting rather than buying for most people.
Even among those who saw the movie in theaters, I’d recommend seeing if
you can watch it streaming on Netflix first.
1 comment :
This is the type of movie that, as you suggest, is best watched as either (a) a rental or (b) on a basic cable channel rather than adding to one's Blu-ray or DVD collection. It's dated, sure, but even when it was "current," I never thought, "Hey, this would make a fine addition to my VHS collection!"
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