The Naked Gun franchise is one of the most iconic in comedy movie history. It’s absurd in large part thanks to Leslie Nielsen’s classic deadpan humor, with a whirlwind of pratfalls, puns, and police procedural parody. Initially a television series called Police Squad!, The Naked Gun grew into a film franchise with a surprising amount of success in the ’80s and ’90s. This summer, the series returns with a legacy reboot/sequel, starring Liam Neeson in the lead role (playing the son of Leslie Nielsen’s character). With the film now in theaters, it’s a great time to look back at every Naked Gun film to date and rank them from worst to best, including Neeson’s new entry.
Ranking these films isn’t easy, however. The original films are full of slapstick comedy and clever, subtle wordplay humor, all of which continues in the new movie. Each entry has its highlights, from Danny Huston’s new antagonist to Leslie Nielsen’s hilarious interactions with the Queen of England. From Nielsen to Neeson, here’s how every Naked Gun movie stacks up.
4) Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)
The third and final entry in the original trilogy is arguably the weakest of the franchise, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t succeed. Leaning harder than ever into cartoon parody territory (for better and worse), this film never lets up with its comedy, even more so than the its predecessors. Directed by Peter Segal (Tommy Boy, Get Smart), this film quickly goes from one gag to the next. A lot of them don’t land, but the plot of a threat to the Academy Awards is particularly unique and compelling. Nielsen himself is still fantastic, but what bogs this entry down is that there’s less of the grounded police procedural satire that made the first two films feel so charming. At this point, the cracks were beginning to show in these series, with a fading freshness and the jokes becoming more hit or miss. It’s the weakest of the franchise, but it’s still fun throughout.
3) The Naked Gun (2025)
Produced by Family Guy’s Seth MacFarlane, Liam Neeson takes center stage in the new film directed by Akiva Schaffer (Chip ’n Dale: Rescue Rangers, Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping). The new story is a reimagining of the franchise with self-aware jokes on the political climate of law enforcement but coupled with its classic sense of humor and style. As mentioned previously, Liam Neeson stars as Frank Drebin Jr., and the movie attempts to bridge the gap between old-school comedy and a more modern, meta sense of humor.
Neeson himself is a big reason why this movie works so well. Despite being known for his roles in serious drama and action films, Neeson has quietly given some excellent comedic performances over the years. Here, he finally has an opportunity to be front and center of a comedy of his own, and he clearly takes that seriously. He’s a worthy successor to Nielsen, as he’s able to have the same deadpan delivery that his predecessor charmed audiences with. There are a lot of gags in this film (several a minute), and, as such, not every joke is going to land. However, the ratio of what does come off versus what doesn’t is strong, which is a testament to Neeson’s performance and the script behind him. Ultimately, this is a funny movie, perhaps not quite on the level of the franchise’s top installments, but still more than worthy of a place among the original trilogy.
2) The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)
The second installment came in 1991 with The Smell of Fear, a film that kept much of the charm and humor of the first. It’s still led by Lieutenant Frank Drebin, and his exploits while on the job quickly turn into disastrous adventures. The plot is still absurd, although not quite on the level of the first, which takes away from the fun of the story. Still, Drebin uncovering a plot to replace a clean energy scientist with a double in order to manipulate White House policy is still more than wacky enough, and for the most part, it works.
Nielsen and his love interest Priscilla Presley have great chemistry throughout. It’s a surprisingly charming romance that works well within the context of a story that is surprisingly relevant both politically and socially. The film doesn’t quite meet the high standards of the original, but The Smell of Fear still proves that the franchise is more than just a one hit wonder.
1) The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
There’s no debate here, the first is the best. To this day, the original Naked Gun is a comedic masterpiece, packed with so many jokes that the viewer is bound to miss a few along the way. The film takes the premise of their short-lived TV series Police Squad! and runs with it, creating a memorable story that deserves to be watched more than once. Leslie Nielsen is the star of the show, as his character Frank Drebin is perfectly clueless throughout.
He’s incredibly sincere and well meaning, but is also dangerously unaware of his surroundings and, at the end of the day, still manages to be effective (somehow). He has many memorable moments, from a cringeworthy press conference to attending a baseball game, all of which serve as evidence that Nielsen delivers one of the great comedic performances in film history here. This film is more than just a parody, too. It’s a prime example of what movies should be – escapism. It’s hard not to get lost in the silliness of it all, with the film barreling forward, joke after joke, and the final result is one of the funniest movies ever made.
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