NAKED GUN 33-1/3: THE FINAL INSULT
A film review by Scott Renshaw
Copyright 1994 Scott Renshaw
Starring: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, Fred Ward, George Kennedy, O. J. Simpson. Screenplay: David Zucker, Pat Proft and Robert LoCash. Director: Peter Segal. Reviewed by Scott Renshaw.
I'd like to say a word at this time about the proliferation of genre parody/spoofs in the last year: stop. In twelve months we've seen at least half a dozen such films (LOADED WEAPON 1, FATAL INSTINCT, ROBIN HOOD: MEN IN TIGHTS, etc.), with roughly that many laughs between them. It is saddest of all to see the masters of the form, the former partners in the Zucker Abrahams Zucker comic triumvirate, among the perpetrators of slipshod product. Last year's HOT SHOTS! PART DEUX was a tolerable but limp effort; still, it shines next to NAKED GUN 33-1/3. The third installment in the series is only sporadically amusing, and often crosses the pop culture cannibalism scale from parody into self-parody.
Leslie Nielsen returns as Frank Drebin, formerly a lieutenant for L.A.'s Police Squad but recently retired after his marriage to sweetheart Jane Spencer (Priscilla Presley). There are tensions in the Drebin household, however, as Jane yearns for a child and Frank itches to return to police work. Frank gets his chance when Capt. Hocken (George Kennedy) and Det. Nordberg (O. J. Simpson) ask him to go undercover in prison. His mission: to ingratiate himself with incarcerated bomber Rocco (Fred Ward) and find out the target of a planned terrorist attack. While Frank goes to work in the Stateville Prison, Jane takes off to find herself, and must decide whether or not to stand by her man.
The first ten minutes of NAKED GUN 33-1/3 offers some promise. The opening sequence targets the train station steps sequence from THE UNTOUCHABLES, and it features some solid belly laughs thanks to a careful setup. There are also a couple of winning moments in the traditional opening credits featuring a roof's-eye view from a moving police car, particularly a nod to the Death Star trench run from STAR WARS. Unfortunately, that's where NAKED GUN 33-1/3 hits the runout groove. In a ZAZ film, whether or not it works ultimately comes down to how many of the gags work, and there are painfully few good gags here.
Part of the problem can be attributed to director Peter Segal. Much of the enjoyment from earlier ZAZ efforts came from watching the backgrounds, picking up jokes on the fringes of the frame. In NAKED GUN 33-1/3, jokes that in those earlier films would have been background jokes practically have a spotlight set on them, such as the wall-mounted clothing of notable lawmen in the Police Squad station (one of the lawmen is J. Edgar Hoover ... you fill in the gag). Even though all three ZAZ boys are in the credits in some capacity (David Zucker as writer, Jerry as producer and Jim Abrahams as executive producer), their eye is missing in Segal's direction. While none of their films were afraid to go for groaners, the difference is that they didn't underline them.
Many of the films NAKED GUN 33-1/3 chooses to parody seem ripe for the picking, but the execution stumbles. Jane's departure with friend Louise in a green Oldsmobile convertible seems to offer a great deal of promise, but the expected THELMA & LOUSIE parody offers surprising little payoff. Ditto for the now (seemingly) obligatory CRYING GAME reference, and an overlong sequence set in the prison. Time after time it looks like something worthwhile is coming along, and time after time the jokes just fall flat.
There is one other crucial factor worth noting in NAKED GUN 33-1/3, and that is the performance of Leslie Nielsen. When he made AIRPLANE!, Nielsen was a career B-movie actor known for dramatic heavy roles, and he deadpanned his part perfectly. Now, however, after AIRPLANE!, the series POLICE SQUAD! and three NAKED GUN films, Nielsen appears to be aping himself. Instead of playing Drebin as the oblivious stiff he had been before, he mugs and double-takes his way through the film, having learned far too many bad lessons from his horrendous Dollar Rent-A-Car spots. Similarly, Fred Ward brings none of the qualities Ricardo Montalban and Robert Goulet brought to the first two films. Rather than playing against the laughs, all the performers seem to be playing with them, and much of the goofiness is lost.
NAKED GUN 33-1/3 is doing well at the box office. It's too bad. I was hoping we could avoid NAKED GUN .44: MAGNUM FARCE.
On the Renshaw scale of 0 to 10 naked guns: 3.
-- Scott Renshaw Stanford University Office of the General Counsel
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