Cast: Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston,

Written By:

Directed By: Akiva Schaffer

Release Year: 2025

Studio: Paramount

runtime: 85 minutes

Audio Description Produced By:

Written By:

Narrated By:

What is it?: A continuation of the trilogy that starred Leslie Nielsen, with Liam Neeson portraying his son, Frank drebin Jr., who finds himself in very similar hilarious setups, and delivering the same dry, deadpan humor. He has to help a blonde bombshell (Anderson), who he obviously will fall in love with, just like his father, and go up against a tech billionaire (Huston), who is seeking to use the P.L.O.T. Device to advance his agenda.

What Works: This team absolutely understood the assignment. this type of film really hasn’t been done well in a long time. we used to have nice things. remember the golden days of movies like The Naked Gun, Spaceballs, or even Robin Hood: Men in tights? Then Nielsen left the Naked gun franchise, and we got a few lesser quality like minded efforts like Spy Hard and wrongfully Accused, before the Wayans Bros took over with the Scary Movie franchise. even that died out, but the biggest offender and killer of these spoof style films was the directorial duo of Aaron seltzer and Jason Friedberg. those two are why we don’t have nice things.

Akiva Schaffer, who dabbled with Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (a film I adore, but was a box office flop) stepped in and clearly knows what he’s doing. This is the best role Liam Neeson has had since he developed a particular set of skills. seriously, this is his best role since taken.

He’s basically killed his own career through a series of deeply forgettable, and rather terrible films, which seem to somehow keep getting worse. For a while, his particular set of skills provided some entertainment with run All night, A Walk Among the tombstones, and non Stop, but now he’s making things like Memory.

And, to add to the killer revival happening here, we’ve got Pamela Anderson in a brilliant casting move. This is the kind of role she should have been doing for the last twenty years, but Hollywood had no idea how to cast her. She has excellent comic timing, and isn’t afraid to get silly. I’d love to see her host Saturday Night Live. truly. Following her nearly Oscar nominated turn in The Last Showgirl, it’s refreshing to see that wasn’t a one off for her.

there are so many laugh out loud jokes. From the absurdity of calling the thing everyone seems to need the P.L.O.T. Device, to a really funny montage between Neeson and Anderson that takes a dark turn when they decide to build a snowman. Also, there’s a running gag about coffee, and they absolutely address how the franchise doesn’t miss OJ Simpson.

This might just be my favorite comedy of 2025. it is laugh for laugh, packing the most punch for your buck. I might even like it more than the sequels. If I was Paramount, I’d be all over a sequel with the same cast, and same creative team. this is a film that people likely were slow to latch onto in theaters, because of that reboot flavor, and neeson’s dminishing career. however, this could really turn things around for him. this should be the only thing he’s doing right now. Enough of the D-list action thrillers made on the cheap.

The Audio description: For a film with a lot of sight gags, this audio description was surprisingly effective. It made sure to pick up on all the humor. They nailed every coffee cup. Sometimes, with audio description for comedy, you can’t just describe things on screen, you actually have to be aware of the intentionality of a joke, and be able to help the film translate the punchline to a blind audience. this does that very well.

Why you Might Like it: We haven’t had a film like this in a long time. On top of that, it is actually funny.

Why You Might Not Like it: For all the hardcore Leslie Nielsen fans, i can see how you may not believe Neeson can live up to the original. Nielsen set a high bar, but Neeson really aims to hit it.

Final thoughts: A film I was pretty sure I didn’t need, starring someone I assumed couldn’t live up to expectations proved me wrong on both fronts, and became my favorite straight comedy of the year. Laugh for laugh, this has the most mileage.

Fresh: Final grade: 8/10