Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

It's rare for a cop movie to combine elements from "The Untouchables", "Thelma & Louise" and "The Brady Bunch".

Unless, of course, the lead character has a tendency to run his car into parking meters.

"The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult" brings the lofty trilogy to a close with the same old cast (Kennedy, Simpson, Presley) and slapstick antics involving a prison breakout, terrorist plot and the Oscars. And there in the center is Lt. Frank Drebin (Nielsen) on the verge of retirement and fighting with bad guys, shopping carts and Weird Al Yankovic while trying convince lovely wife Jane (Presley) that the spark in their relationship is still there.

How can you talk down a movie like this; it's as useless as putting up a tent in a windstorm, so they say. You have to enjoy stupidity, one-liners, gags and visual puns, as created by the ZAZ boys (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker) and delivered by a cast of pros (including Fred Ward and Pia Zadora!!), all with the tone of adolescence and insanity you've come to know and love.

And if you don't, why are you reading this?

Kudos go to Anna Nicole Smith, who makes her debut in movies here in a big way (sorry) and shows she is at her best when laughing at herself. Good job, Anna.

Favorite scene? I lost count after the first 10 minutes; it's an exercise in futility, every scene will make you chuckle, laugh, guffaw, roar and/or howl with delight. Besides, why spoil the fun?

And as for Nielsen...as always, he is THE MAN! Even when throwing up in a tuba.

Ten stars for a great "Final" trip down into Dumbville. And one star more for the very last scene - classic!

Thanks, Frank.

Retirement has not been good for Frank Drebin. His marriage is on the rocks and he feels emasculated as he no longer has the power of the law or the ability to shot bad guys. When he is offered the chance to help out with some undercover work, Frank jumps at the chance – even though Jane storms out. When the info Frank finds points to imprisoned bomb expert Rocco Dillon he agrees to go into the jail and infiltrate his gang in order to find out his plan.

Despite the fact that the second part was a little bit of a dip from part 1, Debin was brought back for a final insult and managed to produce a very enjoyable conclusion to the series. Opening with one of the best moments from all three films (a hilarious expansion of The Untouchable train station scene) the film keeps up a very consistent tone that has plenty of big laughs as well as lots of little things that will keep you chuckling. Its not that the film has no misses (it does) but they are covered by the sheer weight of hits that it includes. The plot is fairly simple but is well done to include a few basic set ups – the prison, the break out and the Oscars; each part is very funny if you're in the mood for it and, hey, even if you're not it is pretty infectious.

The writing is good – it is easy to forget how hard it is to write a good spoof, but recent attempts have shown had easy it is to misjudge the film and just be silly rather than funny. Another big part of the film working is yet another great performance from Leslie Neilsen, who makes it all look so easy! Ward is a great addition to the cast and is much better than the bad guy from the second film – Ward plays it gruff and straight, making it all the funnier. Presley is so-so, with her character kind of shoe-horned into the film to her detriment, but she does have some good moments. Freeman is good value and Smith, well, Smith has a good body and that's about it – but fair play to her for sending herself up like that, it's not like she needed the money after all.

Overall, this is a very enjoyable film as long as you are in the mood. Even if you aren't roaring with laughter you'll still be chuckling along. The material is hardly the height of wit or intelligence and some viewers may find it to be all a bit broad but fans of the genre will love it and get plenty of laughs from the material and the mostly good performances.

The law of diminishing returns really starts to kick in with The Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult. It's definitely got the lowest gag ratio of the three films but there's still enough here to warrant the return. The shorter run time really helps with the lower gag ratio and the jokes that do land still have that same gleeful stupidity.

Leslie Nielsen's gifts are needed more than ever before. Even if the film around him is faltering he never is as he really carries this. Frank briefly becoming the stay at home wife then going undercover gives him plenty of new material to work with and the reaction shots of Nielsen looking baffled will never get old.

Peter Segal's direction doesn't falter straight away as it opens with the funniest opening of the three and the strongest credits sequence. For better and worse, this one's humour feels broader compared to the others as it adds a lot of references to other films in between the slapstick and visual gags. There's still a lot of memorable stuff here, it just luls occasionally.

I thought this one was almost as good as the first film and a bit better than the second one. I liked the whole infiltration of the prison plot and the retirement aspect of the film more than all the politics of the second film. However, Leslie plays Drebin in a bit more of a goofy fashion this go around. There are also other things in this film that were not really in the first two installments like the scenes that parodied other movies. Scenes like these were not in the first two movies, from what I remember anyway, but there are a couple of them in this one. Such as the opening which parodies "The Untouchables" and a "Thelma and Louise" one as well. However, the film has a nice conclusion at the academy awards which makes fun of Hollywood's biggest night in grand fashion. The plot has Frank retired, but he is coaxed out of retirement to break into a prison and find out a sinister plot. The villain this time is Fred Ward and he is good as is his gang. There are some surprises here and there too. I just thought this one was a bit more humorous than two, but not quite on par with the first one. Close, but not quite.

Maybe I'm looking at this movie from a somewhat biased viewpoint, because out of all 3 "Naked Gun" films, this is the one I've seen the most times. So when I just purchased it on DVD, as part of the "Naked Gun" gift set, the gags weren't as fresh to me. I watched it several times when it appeared on ABC, and since the movie doesn't contain any foul language or overt sexual gags, very little was snipped from the TV version. Needless to say, the reason why this sequel doesn't work as well is because of the absence of David Zucker as director. This time Peter Segal occupies the director's chair. Segal definitely has talent. He's the same director who brought us "Tommy Boy," "My Fellow Americans" and the hilarious "Anger Management." But his approach to humor isn't the same as Zucker's. Zucker is better at handling slapstick, while Segal is better at scatological comedy. Though the same writers contributed to this third installment, Segal's a little rusty with the timing and delivery of these gags. And in farce, timing is everything. In the other two films, I found all the gags either funny or hilarious. If I didn't get a belly laugh, I was probably chuckling at least. "The Naked Gun 33 1/3" contains some gags that simply don't work and settle for flat payoffs. But on a positive note, most of the gags do work and the cast still gives their all. It's a shame that O.J. Simpson got involved in murder. He could've made a fine comic actor. I don't exactly visualize him as a leading man, but he would do well in quirky supporting roles like these. Another good thing about the film is Anna-Nicole Smith, who at the time looked absolutely stunning! And though I didn't receive as many belly laughs as I thought, there are a few, like the conclusion at the Oscar ceremony. The sperm bank scene is also hilarious. Unfortunately, the joke is worn out for me, now that I've seen the movie about 5 times. If you're in the mood for a good comedy (though not a great one), "The Naked Gun 33 1/3" delivers. But don't go in expecting too much.