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Poster (c) Paramount Pictures
Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker learned something from 1982. Their sequel to Airplane!, their smash hit, was named Airplane 2: The Sequel, but to their sequel to The Naked Gun was something that would be copied forever: Naked Gun 2 ½: The Smell of Fear. From now on, sequels never were just had “2” after it, it’s always “2 ½” or “2.33”. And, thankfully, the title’s shorter.
Leslie Nielsen’s hilarious character of Frank Drebin is back for more adventures. He and his girlfriend Jane (Priscilla Presley) have broken up; he hasn’t gotten over it, while she’s going out with Quentin Hapsburg (Robert Goulet). What she doesn’t know is that Hapsburg is in a conspiracy to avoid solar energy by doing a whole kidnapping scheme. It’s up to Drebin, Nordberg (O.J. Simpson), and Ed Hocken (George Kennedy) to save the day!
Amazingly enough, many of the jokes from the first one (which I admit I don’t remember much about) weren’t repeated in this sequel. It would be hard to repeat much of those jokes, which would be impossible to change in any ways. Therefore, most of the jokes were fresh and hilarious. It did take a little while to get started, though, for there was about a fifteen minute stretch where there were no laughs, it was just for exposition, which I guess was OK, but I wanted more humor to start off with.
Nielsen was perfect for the part. I’m glad that he hasn’t “sold out” like other comedians and gone on to dramatic roles. He delivers his lines almost like he didn’t know he was in a comedy, which is always funnier than any other types. Many times, he misunderstands what is said, and other times he says something that you wouldn’t expect him to say in 100 years. One of the funniest sequences in the film is a parody of Bond-ish films, when Drebin and someone else are fighting in a bathroom, and seem to be having trouble fighting when a towel is thrown on their heads, etc.
For once, a film has a formidable sequel. Amazingly enough, it’s a film that’s just as funny as the first.
Rated PG-13 for sexual humor.
Review Date: October 11, 2003