Unlike some who also review films, I do not scour the internet for information on upcoming releases.  My spare time is spent either practicing my Catholic Faith in some manner, running, reading, or relaxing when able, in roughly that order of importance.  For instance, I did not realize a soft reboot of The Naked Gun was about to be released until I saw the first trailer in the theater earlier this summer.  It was hilarious and got me wanting more.  Unlike other arguably more notable titles which release a teaser sometimes over a year prior to their premier, this version of The Naked Gun delivered on its at once familiar and fresh comedy rather immediately.  Is it sometimes gratuitous and gross?  Yes, but it is never meant to be taken seriously, and can be written off just as quickly if you allow that to happen.  There is also some innuendo in it, but do not let that ruin what is otherwise a funny film from start to finish.

Speaking of that first short preview for The Naked Gun, if you have seen it, then you have the first few minutes of the movie.  This is interspersed with shots of bad guys robbing a bank.  Instead of stealing money, however, their leader, Sig Gustafson (Kevin Durand), breaks into a safe deposit box and steals the “Primordial Law of Toughness DEVICE.”  In case you miss it in the opening scene when we are only given it in acronym form, it spells out “P.L.O.T. DEVICE.” Veteran member of Los Angeles’ Police Squad, Lieutenant Frank Drebin Jr. (Liam Neeson), arrives at the scene disguised as a four-foot-tall Girl Scout.  Once he reveals his true identity, he makes short work of the robbers in classic franchise fashion.  While everyone back at headquarters is pleased with his performance, even making a banner congratulating him for his 1,000^th perpetrator killed, his boss, Chief Davis (CCH Pounder), is not happy.  In fact, so angry is she that she takes him and his hapless partner, Captain Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser), off the bank case.  Instead, they are assigned to traffic duty, and are soon called to look into an electric car that fell off the side of a cliff, killing its driver, Simon Davenport (Jason MacDonald).  It looks like an accident.  Yet, before the giant claw from the arcade crane games can pick up (and inevitably drop) the wrecked electric vehicle, Lieutenant Drebin notices a conspicuous match box with a tiger engraved on the side.  Upon returning to the office, he is met by the dead motorist’s sister, Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), who does not believe her brother’s death to be accidental.  Refusing the offered chair, she mentions that he had gone to the establishment from which the matches came, in order to meet with technology developer Richard Cane (Danny Huston), who we already know has the P.L.O.T. DEVICE.  Once Lieutenant Drebin is through questioning Beth, partially because he is attracted to her, he warns her to discontinue this personal investigation she seems to be conducting.  Instead, she finally takes the chair he offered and noisily walks out the door with it.  Now that he has a name, Lieutenant Drebin goes to a fancy function being hosted by Richard in order to gauge the man.  Richard appears amiable, but he also seems to know exactly why Lieutenant Drebin has come.  In order to ascertain what the police squad member knows, Lieutenant Drebin is invited to come to the aforementioned club in the near future.  Meanwhile, one if his colleagues at the station, Detective Barnes (Liza Koshy), asks for Lieutenant Drebin’s help with someone she is interrogating.  Though she is looking into the robbery case from which he had been pulled, he agrees to do the questioning.  Despite confusing the bank robber (Busta Rhymes) by saying that he had been accused of “man’s laughter” instead of manslaughter, Lieutenant Drebin finally gets him to confess that he had been working for Richard.  In other words, he can work both cases now that they have identified a connection in Richard.  Hence, the next step is to finally take the invitation to Richard’s establishment.  Though Lieutenant comes to grill Richard, the cop instead runs into the ever-meddling Beth.  Lieutenant Drebin is annoyed to have to be telling her again to stay out of it, but they agree to assist one another in getting footage of the night of her brother’s appearance at the club.  While she distracts Richard with her womanly wiles, Lieutenant Drebin sneaks into the backrooms like a bull in a China shop.  Despite locating the files for which he had been searching, the amount of destruction he does in fighting his way to Richard’s computers ends with Lieutenant Drebin being suspended by Chief Davis.  Disappointed, he is soon cheered at home by Beth.  This is where the film becomes inappropriate, and not just sexually.  Instead of showing them in bed, we see them in an imaginary scenario where they bring a snowman to life using dark magic who promptly tries to kill them when it starts acting creepy.  If nothing else, their bond means that they are more determined to stop Richard, despite locating the files for which he had been searching, the amount of destruction he does in fighting his way to Richard’s computers ends with Lieutenant Drebin being suspended by Chief Davis.  Disappointed, he is soon cheered at home by Beth.  This is where the film becomes inappropriate, and not just sexually.  Instead of showing them in bed, we are shown them in an imaginary scenario where they bring a snowman to life using dark magic who promptly tries to kill them when it starts acting creepy.  If nothing else, their bond means that they are more determined to stop Richard, despite Lieutenant Drebin being ordered to take leave.  Their need to act becomes all the more important when we find out that Richard plans to use the P.L.O.T. DEVICE on the world’s cell-phone network, unleashing people’s primal instincts and causing them to kill one another.  While the carnage goes on, he proposes to keep the world’s wealthy in underground bunkers until everyone outside is dead.  While in their caves, they will be entertained by Weird Al Yankovich (as himself), so they have that going for them. . . .  At any rate, Lieutenant Drebin and Beth get to Richard only after the weapon has been activated.  Amongst the brawling populace, Lieutenant Drebin and Richard have their final showdown, with the good guys coming out on top, as always.  As for everyone else, they are literally made to “calm down” with a flick of the switch.

I can imagine God sometimes wanting to calm all of us down with the flick of a switch as at the end of The Naked Gun.  I have no idea, nor am I pretending to know God’s mind on this, but it seems obvious.  What He makes of a movie like this one I could only speculate on, at least this side of the grace.  On the other hand, I do know that the Almighty has a sense of humor.  What can also be said to be equally true is that God does not find humor in the same things as we do.  The comedy in this movie is mostly derived from plays on words that are sometimes referred to as “dad jokes.”  They get a bad name for coming off as corny.  There are a few eye-rollers here, but mostly they are what would I would simply label as clever.  For example, of the former of those varieties, you have the fact that in police headquarters, the room where they store their cold cases is an actual meat freezer.  Of the latter, there is the P.L.O.T. DEVICE.  It is a clever play on words that deserves its credit.  What I suspect God finds less amusing is how the “sex” scenes are filmed.  Granted, it feels a little odd to label them as such.  The most suggestive part is when Sig is spying on them.  Because of his angle, and eventually using thermal signatures, he is privy to a number of compromising situations that are, in reality, problems derived from his angle.  In other words, at this moment, they are not having any pre-marital sex, it just looks that way from his perspective.

Speaking of perspective, there is a bit of a certain kind of violence in The Naked Gun.  At the same time, as previously mentioned it is the P.L.O.T. DEVICE that pushes people to do terrible things.  The word “primordial” is key.  I am not sure it is fair to say that people if left to their own devices would ever resort to savagely killing one another.  A modern man, particularly one that follows current events, might point to our modern institutions and say they are the reason we are free.  Catholics and other Christians contend that we derive that freedom from God.  What the movie seems to suggest is that Richard is interested in developing technology that puts humans on par with god.  It is sacrilege to reach for such outcomes.  There is only one God, and He is jealous for our heart.  As such, He makes a place for Himself there, meaning that He truly dwells with us all.  If we were ever faced a similar machine, I would hope that the Divine spark placed in us, which has sometimes been referred to as “the better angels of our natures,” would prevail. Then again, the movie plays the mania happening in the background for comedy, so I am not sure that saying is applicable.

What is applicable to The Naked Gun is asserting that it is entertaining. I did highlight some questionable moments, but I cannot emphasize enough their ephemeral nature. They do earn the film an R rating, and I would not take children to see this, but neither would young ones get the humor, even if much of it can be viewed as “dad jokes.” This is sounding like a complicated recommendation, but it is a solid one.