Liam Neeson's Naked Gun Reboot Trailer Delivers The Ultimate OJ Simpson Joke

While audiences might be getting sick of sequels, remakes, and reboots, there's at least one coming to theaters this summer that we're actually looking forward to. "The Naked Gun" franchise is being revived with Liam Neeson taking on the role of Frank Debin Jr., son of Leslie Nielsen's Detective Frank Drebin from the original "Naked Gun" spoof trilogy of films that spawned from the short-lived comedy series "Police Squad!"

While reviving old comedy franchises can be rather risky, "The Naked Gun" comes with a promising filmmaker behind the camera, one who hasn't found much box office success but has consistently delivered some of the greatest comedies of the 21st century. Akiva Shaffer, one-third of the groundbreaking "Saturday Night Live" comedy group known as The Lonely Island, who ushered in the era of the "SNL Digital Short," is directing the film, having previously been at helm of "Hot Rod" (which likes to party) and the gut-busting "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping," not to mention the "Chip N Dale: Rescue Rangers" revamp that hit Disney+ not too long ago. 

The first trailer for "The Naked Gun" has arrived (watch above), and we're already getting "21 Jump Street" vibes from this one, albeit with a bit more absurdity. Also, let me just say that if you're not on board with the first half of the trailer, there's a joke referencing the role of O.J. Simpson in the original "Naked Gun" franchise that will have you absolutely rolling. 

Along with Liam Neeson playing the son of Leslie Nielsen's bumbling detective Frank Drebin, we have the outstanding Paul Walter Hauser (soon to play Chris Farley in a biopic) as the son of Captain Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) from the original franchise. And that's exactly what leads us to the incredible gag that finds a bunch of other legacy police officers speaking to the framed pictures of their deceased fathers who led them to careers in law enforcement, including the cop whose father was unfortunately O.J. Simpson's character, Detective Fred Nordberg. If you somehow don't know why that's hilarious, maybe Norm Macdonald can help.

Leading up to that gag, I wasn't entirely sure how I felt about this first tease for "The Naked Gun." Yes, Liam Neeson somehow being perfectly disguised as a small girl is an absurd bit that feels right at home in a spoof movie like this, but it didn't feel quite in line with the classic parody style delivered by Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker, the filmmaking trio consisting of Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker, who also delivered the classic "Airplane!" back in 1980. But once that legacy gag kicked in, it felt like a modern approach to the classic spoof formula, and I hope Shaffer is going to knock this one out of the park.

"The Naked Gun" also stars Kevin Durand, Danny Huston, Pamela Anderson, and Busta Rhymes, and it's slated to hit theaters on August 1, 2025.