This week, we're back and we brought a friend, as we head back to the cinema for another In Theaters Now edition of the podcast, and bring returning favourite Matt Pollock (@mattysmovies4ever) along with us for the relaunch of a movie that was a childhood fave of both Justin and Matty, but is all new to Hayley, our resident Lonely Island obsessive... It's 2025's The Naked Gun, directed by Akiva Schaffer, written by Akiva Schaffer, Dan Gregor and Doug Mand, and starring Liam Neeson, Pamela Anderson, Paul Walter Hauser, Danny Huston, CCH Pounder, and pod favourite Kevin Durand, with a slew of cameos along the way as well. While it would be foolish to doubt that the man who made Popstar or Hot Rod would be ill equipped to handle a Naked Gun relaunch, it seems just as foolish to believe a legacy remake of a classic 80s comedy property could possibly be good, or a good idea. As it turns out, this one is great, skewering north of two decades' worth of action films that have gone largely unspoofed, while (fingers crossed) reviving the concept of the Big Summer Comedy altogether. Like a 100-layer lasagna of laughter, there is an unprecedented joke density to this script, and they nearly all land right in the ribs. An incredibly funny film from start to finish, the convergence of two of the pod's great loves, we simply had to discuss it. And of course, while this whole episode is covering a movie currently in theaters, we've also got Theatrical Field Reports on Superman, Fantastic Four: First Steps, Weapons, and Eddington!
If you'd like to watch the movie before listening along to our discussion, it's currently showing at your local multiplex but will likely find its way to Paramount+ roughly five weeks from now.
Other works discussed on this episode include Airplane!, MacGruber, Happy GIlmore 2, Bad Trip, Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, Kingsman: The Secret Service, the original Naked Gun trilogy, Snack Shack, the Ed Helms Vacation lega-sequel, Funny People, Tropic Thunder, Pineapple Express and more, I don't know, I can't list them all off, I'm on my own Vacation currently (sans Ed Helms).
We'll be back next month doing who knows what, but it will definitely be a more regular release schedule than what we've had of late. Thanks for bearing with us, we appreciate and love you all. Until then, we'll see you at the movies!!
