Do You Want to Build a Snowman?
Directed by Akiva Schaffer
Starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Danny Huston
Released August 2nd, 2025
Rated PG-13
Police Squad! was a televised comedy series from 1982 that only lasted six episodes, yet somewhat miraculously spawned a trilogy of successful comedy movies: 1988’s The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!, 1991’s The Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear, and 1994’s The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. The films, like the series before it, were the brainchild of David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker, the comedy team known as ZAZ, who were also responsible for The Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane!, Top Secret!,and other well-received comedy projects that mixed ridiculous situations, absurd jokes with deadpan delivery, rapid-fire sight gags, and short run times.
Along with Jorma Taccone and Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer is a member of The Lonely Island, a comedy trio that has found remarkable success over the years with their digital shorts (e.g. Lazy Sunday), films (e.g. Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping), and comedy albums (e.g. Incredibad). It is a delight to see that for this fourth installment of the Police Squad! franchise, simply titled The Naked Gun, Schaffer, as director and co-writer (with Dan Gregor and Doug Mand) has successfully recreated the ZAZ comedy formula, right down to a short run time.
In the new film, Liam Neeson plays Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., son of the character originated by the late Leslie Nielson. His partner is Capt. Ed Hocken Jr. (Paul Walter Hauser). The pair have inherited their respective father’s names in addition to their jobs at the LAPD’s Police Squad, where they answer to chief Davis (CCH Pounder), who is understandably frustrated with their antics at every turn. Frank and Ed find themselves at odds with tech impresario Richard Crane (Danny Houston) who is trying to activate a destructive weapon known as the “Primordial Law of Toughness,” or the P.L.O.T. Device. Along the way Drebin becomes involved with Beth Davenport (Pamela Anderson), a femme fatale in need of his help.
Like Leslie Nielson before him, Liam Neeson plays it straight as an arrow as he delivers silly dialogue, playing against his recent action movie persona, making him inspired casting to continue the Police Squad legacy. Perhaps this film will finally rescue him from doing endless variations of old-man-seeking-revenge movies. Between this film and last year’s critically acclaimed drama The Last Showgirl, Pamela Anderson is experiencing a career comeback. Her comedic performance here is a revelation; she fully commits to the stupidity of every scene and knocks it out of the park. It is wonderful to see someone have a second act in Hollywood that is not just a popularity resurgence, but doing the best work of their career to boot. With all due respect, Danny Huston is an actor that gets on my nerves. He is always so serious in everything! What a relief to witness him having fun as the villain here. Good on ya, Danny.
At eighty-two minutes, this is one of the shortest wide release movies I have seen since 2010’s Jonah Hex (eighty-one minutes). While I appreciate the tight pacing, I noticed that there are gags featured in the trailer that are not present in the final cut. I would not be surprised if an extended version became available to watch when the film hits streaming services in a few months. For now, I am happy to recommend the film if only for its unexpected “Snowman Sequence,” easily the most absurd, ridiculous, and funniest comedy scene of the year.