/uj Seth MacFarlane produced it. Him being attached to a project in a writing or producing role means it will be gold, he has the Midas touch. Even in Sing he gives one of his best performances because he gets to do something he’s passionate about, doing Sinatra
The only thing he hasn’t been able to fix is Family Guy, but I feel like if he came back as head writer for just one season he could set them down the right course
Seth MacFarlane is pretty good at surreal comedy which is what Naked Gun was originally
Having an actor like Liam Neeson that can be as deadpan as the original Leslie Nielsen but still have the range LN had as well to lean into comedic effects also helps to really sell the movie as well
MacFarlane thrives in absurdist spaces and I wish he took part in smaller projects that would let him really go all out. I'd love to see him make a horror comedy short film where he got final cut privilege
I was absolutely flabbergasted at how good Ted (TV show) was. It's not some gamechanger or anything, but it is a super solid show that had me cackling at several points
Agreed. I have to admit I'm enjoying ST: Strange New Worlds. IMO it's like The Orville but without the in your face comedy. Still has too much sap, for me, but at least it's not as bad as ST: Discovery.
Lower decks was soooo good. Strange New Worlds has been great because they have the freedom to to explore some of the weirder ideas, like what if they find a cosmic anomaly that makes everyone break out into song and dance?
I am enjoying SNW as well but it's ... almost a little TOO fan servicey? Like early on Spock sits in the captains chair and the characters literally have a conversation, like fans would, about "what's your THING gonna be? The THING you say? When you want the ship to go?"
That was horrible. I'm sure certain kinds of fans liked it but it was so out of place.
I see you're point it was a bit corny but also the "thing" a captain says when they want the ship to go has been referenced a few times before, in other series'. So it's not a totally oddball thing to have a conversation about. How the show presented it was the problem. They almost did a full nod and a wink to the forth wall in that scene.
Off the top of my head [totally going on my poor memory here] I think DS9 had a moment when O'brian was in charge of the Defiant, then afterwards he mentions he didn't like it and/or couldn't continue doing it because he couldn't think of a "thing" to say [it might have been Bashir].
There was a cringe worthy moment on Disco where Micheal gets to say her "thing" for the first time [damn thing took forever, there might have been an episode in between her sitting down and saying the line].
I seem to recall something in Next Gen where Data has a moment of contemplation when deciding what to say. I also have a vague memory of someone mocking Cpt. Piccard's "make it so" I don't remember who or the context. There are more but my memory is clutching at straws as it is.
I think you’re exactly right that it’s how it was presented. It wasn’t two crew members asking Spock a question. It was two fans of the show speaking to the audience, like you said winking at the fourth wall.
Give it a few episodes but it's worth the watch. And after Disco/Piccard it's a breath of fresh air to see some real "monster of the week" type stuff again. I think it tries to stay close to the Original series in terms of having a serious tone but doing it in a lighthearted way, at times. But it's definitely not all doom and gloom, like Disco; nor oh no, it's the borg again... yawn, like in Piccard.
The first season especially has the problem that they are mostly doing Star Trek but then every episode has that one over-the-top usually fairly unfunny gag just to make sure it reads as a parody and not just a clone.
They even out and become less out-of-place over time.
I feel like Orville has mostly dropped its comedy in the latest season, and much to its benefit. What comedy is there feels like a light touch when it happens
I was just thinking about that scene. Might've been the funniest scene in the entire movie tbh. Just something about it, maybe because it was right in the middle of Neeson's action movie phase.
I never watch sequals of comedy movies because they're usually terrible but once I saw they were going with liam neeson I was like "ok this actually has a solid chance of being good".
Before the Naked Gun movies, Leslie Nielsen was also a dramatic actor. That is almost the exact same thing that made those movies so good. He plays everything straight so perfectly.
Having an actor like Liam Neeson that can be as deadpan as the original Leslie Nielsen but still have the range LN had as well to lean into comedic effects also helps to really sell the movie as well
I love the way Neeson explained his methodology in Naked Gun, to paraphrase he stepped into the character believing wholeheartedly it's a serious crime drama.
It's that gap between the serious earnestness of the actor and the hilarious script that lends it its surreal humour.
Do you think for casting they just said, “who has a name like Leslie Nielsen?” And Liam Neeson was close enough? It just so happened he is also a great, older, white actor with a lot of range?
The Orville is incredible - when he eventually found his balance there are episodes that are right up there with the very best Star Trek episodes. The guy knows his stuff.
eh. Seth has a very specific sense of humor. He works well in bits and Naked Gun is perfect for that. A million ways to die in the west really wasn't all that funny and was mostly predictable for what the punchline of the joke was going to be. To call him a Midas touch isn't accurate but he is quite good at bit centric joke routines.
I legitimately turned off A Million Ways like twenty minutes in. I actually think Seth is hilarious, but sometimes he just takes things to levels are are plain uncomfortable to hear.
While we give a lot of credit to Seth MacFarlane, he's been pretty vocal that he didn't do much, and what he did do was stop the studio from interfering by throwing his heavy weight around so that Akiva from The Lonely Island could write and direct it without interference.
You can definitely feel the Lonely Island influence, but Seth is just good at picking the right projects when he’s not the one in charge (except the Ted show, where he was the one in charge)
Part of the problem with Family Guy, is that FOX keeps renewing it. He was expecting it to expire around season 10-12, which is why he made American Dad.
I just watched it the other day. I really expected it to be spoof movie dumb. Like vampires suck. But there were so many jokes that made me groan and then some really really unexpectedly funny bits. The oj Simpson reference sent me howling. I really had low expectations for this. It's pacing was a lot of groan jokes with some absolute gold jokes.
Yeah I take a look on the casting after I read your comment. Always been fascinated with voice acting and who voice who, some interesting surprise sometimes.
Seth MacFarlane has also made the only real Star Trek show in the last 20 years.
TBH, the only advertising I've seen for naked gun has been on reddit and it's been abysmal. If I'd known Seth was involved I would have been more likely to watch it.
This clip was unexpectedly good humour, unlike the the poster with Neeson's balls hanging out a mini skirt.
seth macfarlane has a niche and in that niche, he has hits and massive failures. Midas touch is... beyond a stretch.
While family guy and american dad have gone a long time (but for a lot of people got stale a very very long time ago), but he hasn't actually done much else. Cleveland didn't last and wasn't good. Films, afaik it's just ted, ted 2 and a million ways to be cringe. Then tv, Orville, also cringe.
Family guy was great for a while, most of hte rest of what he did is pretty mid and all uses the exact same style and he basically plays the same character in everything.
Holy shit why is everyone glazing Seth for this movie. He was just a producer. Akiva Schaffer was the one who made sure it stuck to the absurdist humor that Leslie Nieslen movies are known for.
It was good for the first half then fizzled into nothing in the second half. The theater just stopped laughing past the halfway point and we all just waited for the movie to end. The bad guy just.... that's it?! It could've been more consistently funny imo.
I can’t remember the last movie I laughed at the entire in a theater. This was a fantastic addition to the series. The whole cast absolutely nailed it.
I was overjoyed it was as good as it was. It wasn't Leslie Nielsen, but it didn't need to be. Same sort of humor delivered by someone who knew how to be his own kind of "straight man."
I don't remember any kind of major reference to the previous movies, apart from references to the main characters of the first movie. So no, you don't have to. And in my opinion the new film is by far one of the best of the franchise.
I've seen The Naked Gun 2 and loved it though. And I don't know about the third one.
only real issue for me was the pacing and runtime. There's barely any breathing room between lines and jokes, it ends up swallowing itself. No wonder the runtime is like 80 minutes.
It's absolutely bombing at the box office last I heard, unfortunately. I really enjoyed it, so i hope it does well on rental, and we can maybe get another.
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u/ViolentBeetle 2d ago
That's the new Naked Gun movie.