A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The '80s are back this week in a new version of the movie "The Naked Gun."
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "THE NAKED GUN")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTOR: (As character) Who are you?
LIAM NEESON: (As Frank Drebin Jr.) Frank Drebin, Police Squad, the new version.
MARTÍNEZ: Liam Neeson is Frank Drebin Jr., the son of the goofy detective played by Leslie Nielsen. Now, it's just the latest sequel to revisit a decades-old hit. And our critics have thoughts. Linda Holmes and Stephen Thompson, hosts of NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour, are here to share. So, all right, let's start with first reactions. Linda, you go first. How is this new "Naked Gun"?
LINDA HOLMES, BYLINE: Well, you know, I'm not sure that we necessarily needed this sequel.
MARTÍNEZ: (Laughter).
HOLMES: I'm not sure people were actively looking for this franchise to return. But it basically works, I think. It's packed with jokes, and that's what this kind of movie is for.
STEPHEN THOMPSON, BYLINE: Yeah, I'm in the same boat. I appreciate getting a movie that is, you know, kind of calling back to this thing that people feel nostalgia for, but that is writing new jokes. And I love the director, Akiva Schaffer from The Lonely Island. He's made other comedies that I've really loved like "Chip 'n Dale: Rescue Rangers" and...
HOLMES: And "Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping."
THOMPSON: Which is an incredibly funny movie.
MARTÍNEZ: So, Linda, when I saw that it was going to be Liam Neeson, I thought, OK, so how is that going to work? Because Liam Neeson sometimes plays some pretty terrifying characters.
HOLMES: Yeah, well, you got to remember, before Leslie Nielsen was a spoof guy, he was also a super serious guy, very deadpan. And I think Liam Neeson, they figured out it's his seriousness and it's his gravity that makes him potentially exactly right to do this. And he goes at it very, very straight on. And I think he's great.
THOMPSON: They also have Pamela Anderson kind of coming in as the femme fatale love interest. And this film kind of brings out this fun, goofy side of Pamela Anderson, you know, talk about nostalgia...
HOLMES: Yeah.
THOMPSON: ...In a way that I found really compelling and really kind to her and to her legacy. And so I think she's really well-served by this movie as well.
MARTÍNEZ: All right. Now, "Happy Gilmore 2" is another one of these kind of sequels. That just came out on Netflix last week. And some people are calling them legacy sequels. The original came out in 1996. Stephen, do you think this one works as well as the new "Naked Gun"?
THOMPSON: I don't. I think the "Happy Gilmore" sequel is just piling on callbacks and flashbacks and endless references to the original movie. It really feels like just fan service. Whereas the "Naked Gun" movie, while it has a few callbacks, is full of just, like, new material. And I think that's the way to do one of these legacy sequels is write a new movie.
HOLMES: Yeah. I think there have been comedy legacy sequels that didn't work well. There was a "Beverly Hills Cop" one on Netflix that I don't think was successful. It seemed to be relying entirely on that nostalgia factor. Compare that to something like "Bill & Ted Face The Music," which was very nostalgic, but which I thought was also funny, introduced some new characters. And I thought that one worked pretty well.
MARTÍNEZ: Yeah. For me, you know, I remember seeing "Friday" for the first time. Perfect, absolutely perfect. And then "Next Friday" came and the "Friday After Next" came, and I was just, like, oh, man.
HOLMES: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: Like a submarine that's...
THOMPSON: (Laughter).
HOLMES: Yeah.
MARTÍNEZ: ...Losing its power, just kept sinking and sinking. All right. Now, so this summer, we also have a couple of scarier sequels revisiting older intellectual property, like the recent "I Know What You Did Last Summer." So, Stephen, do you think it's harder to make one of these work if it can't rely necessarily on laughs and humor?
THOMPSON: I think that may be a factor in why some of these horror legacy sequels don't work as well, because you're kind of beholden to the original plot, right? You're tethered to this original story that you essentially have to retell. But you don't have these leavening agents where you're necessarily bringing in a lot of new ideas.
And I think it's why some of these horror legacy sequels, like "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" movie on Netflix - or "I know What You Did Last Summer" I thought was very poor. You just wind up remaking the original movie while also tying one hand behind your back by forcing yourself to retell a story that's already been told.
HOLMES: Yeah. And I think, whether it's jokes or something else, it helps to have something besides nostalgia.
THOMPSON: Yeah.
HOLMES: So in something like "Mad Max: Fury Road," you have these great visuals. Even in "Twisters," which I enjoyed, you have, you know, twisters.
(LAUGHTER)
THOMPSON: And I think it's the pure story continuations that can be the toughest. I'm sort of cautiously looking forward to "The Devil Wears Prada 2," for instance. I want it to be good. Those can be tough to get right.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Linda Holmes and Stephen Thompson. Thanks, you two.
THOMPSON: Thank you, A.
HOLMES: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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