RIOTUS

The next generation of Police Squad takes on modern crime with their trademark absurdist approach to law enforcement.

“Sergeant Frank Drebin, Detective Lieutenant, Police Squad,” drawls the protagonist, echoing a line spoken by Leslie Nielsen decades ago. This time, though, the speaker is Drebin’s son, Frank Jr. (Liam Neeson), who follows in his dad’s footsteps as part of Police Squad. Partnered with Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser), Drebin starts off by foiling a bank robbery… or has he? Sig Gustafson (Kevin Durand), the heist’s leader, oddly didn’t go for the money.

Because of his reckless approach, Drebin is pulled off the bank robbery and assigned to investigate a car crash that killed a computer engineer. He’s about to write the incident off as an accident when the man’s sister, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), tells him it’s more than it seems. And just like that, Drebin’s two cases seem… connected.

The volume and speed of the gags is difficult to convey unless you’re already a fan of The Naked Gun movies from the ’80s or the original Police Squad TV series. Akiva Schaffer (one third of The Lonely Island musical comedy group) clears a very high bar: it’s darned hard to do absurdist comedy like this. Heck, the creators of The Naked Gun only nailed it once (in this reviewer’s humble opinion; the sequels really weren’t as good).

This movie doesn’t quite hit the heights of the first, but it’s a worthy reboot of this comedy franchise. Neeson brings his considerable gravitas to the blissfully oblivious and hilariously incompetent Drebin; it’s hard to follow in Nielsen’s footsteps but Neeson brings his A-game to the role. In his hands, Drebin is a work of ridiculous art.

Anderson shines in a role that could easily have been overplayed, but her Beth—a crime novelist—is a smart and capable woman (much like Priscilla Presley’s Jane) swept into Drebin’s demented approach to police work. This may be some of her finest work, showing off acting talent that’s been underutilized in her career.

Danny Huston, as tech billionaire Richard Cane, is an excellent foil to Drebin, masterminding a plan that (to be fair) sounds a lot like a certain spy movie starring Colin Firth. With a final act fight against Drebin, he provides plenty of laughs while offering a solid and serious opponent for Neeson’s hapless goofball.

Hauser is having quite a summer as well, with this being his second big release of the summer (after appearing as the Mole Man in Fantastic Four: First Steps). He’s a terrific sidekick to Neeson, with a knack for the kind of crazy stuff that these movies offer. His natural comic flair serves the movie brilliantly.

It’s hard to recreate a style of comedy that is so distinctive and so demanding, but Schaffer and crew do a remarkable job. This could serve as a relaunch of the franchise, if Neeson is up for it, and it might even bring this kind of screwball comedy—with every kind of gag imaginable—back into style.

Oh, quick final note: the end credits are worth sitting through and watching carefully. IYKYK.