Naked Gun’s Co-Creator Made It Clear He Did Not Like The Liam Neeson-Led Reboot

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With so many movies getting reboots these days, the return of The Naked Gun was unexpected. Spoof comedies haven’t been popular for a while, and the original Naked Gun – with Leslie Nielsen and creators Jim Abrams, David Zucker, and Jerry Zucker – felt like a classic from a different time, making a revival seem unlikely.

Surprisingly, a new Naked Gun movie came out in 2025, produced by Seth MacFarlane, directed by Akiva Schaffer, and starring Liam Neeson. The film was generally well-received, including a positive review from us and many other critics. It also performed reasonably well in theaters, which is notable given the current movie market. However, David Zucker recently told Woman’s World that he didn’t enjoy it.

Fifty years ago, my brother Jerry and I, along with Jim Abrahams, began making parody comedies and developed a unique style. We were successful enough that it looked simple, which led others to try and imitate it. For example, Seth MacFarlane attempted to recreate our style with the new Naked Gun movie, but he didn’t quite capture what made the original work.

The new Naked Gun movie didn’t exactly wow critics, though most agreed it was enjoyable, just not quite as funny as the original. Some argued that trying to perfectly recreate the first film would have been a mistake. However, director David Zucker believes that writer and producer Seth MacFarlane overlooked some key ingredients that make a spoof movie successful.

David Zucker learned how to make successful parody films through years of experience, developing a set of principles for effective jokes. Now, he’s sharing those rules in an online MasterClass, “A Crash Course In Spoof Comedy,” hoping to help future filmmakers get parody right. He went on to explain…

We developed 15 guidelines during production, and I’m sharing them so that anyone attempting a similar film in the future can avoid our mistakes and get it right.

He doesn’t explain most of the comedy rules he follows, except for the first – that every joke needs a straight man – and the last, which is that there are no rules at all. If you subscribe to his MasterClass, you might discover all the rules and understand what Zucker thought went wrong with the recent Naked Gun movie.

Paramount+ subscriptions start at $7.99 per month or $59.99 per year. You can now watch The New Naked Gun on Paramount+ to see if it’s worth checking out. View the deal here.

One spoof film series could really improve its quality with some expert instruction. While it’s uncertain if we’ll see another Naked Gun movie starring Liam Neeson, a new Scary Movie is currently being made. Interestingly, David Zucker – a director known for his work on spoofs – actually directed two of the Scary Movie films.

It’s a little unexpected to hear Zucker say this, considering he’d previously stated he didn’t plan on watching the new Naked Gun movie. While he wished the film well, he’d said he wasn’t keen on seeing another person’s version of his creation. Apparently, he changed his mind.

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2025-11-14 18:38