If the title page had anything to go by hilariously spoofing the Mission Impossible franchise, the reboot film of The Naked Gun having the same name, could not have come at a better time for this generation that is thriving on reels. The brand of humour that the reels showcase is often silly and disposable but equally addictive and funny, some of the ingredients that shape up this film to the T. On the other hand, the older demographic who have thrived on The Naked Gun and Police Squad franchise from over the years, also find a distinct voice here. There are multiple recall moments, drawing parallels from the older films that would instantly hold a bar of relatability. In that sense, the entire spectrum of demographics is covered by the wacky written material here, that doesn’t waste a single minute of your life given its taut runtime.

In a hilarious cold open, you are introduced to a little school girl entering a bank that is under siege from a robbery. For the first glimpse of its wackiness is observed when the mask is pulled off and you witness a full blown counter-attack by …..surprise….Dreblin Jr who had a perfect allibi to counter the robbers. Yet, the more significant part of the scene involves one of the characters staring at a mysterious gadget called the ‘P.L.O.T Device’ (a hilarious reference to the term used for the driving catalyst in the screenplay). And soon after, Dreblin Jr is shown to be investigating the ‘suicide’ of a sodtware engineer, only to be labelled as murder by the victim’s sister Beth (Pamela Anderson; if that is not nostalgia, I don’t know what is), a crime novelist herself! What is the truth behind the same? And are the two cases linked to each other?

The screenplay here is divided into fragments, almost like individual set-pieces that are designed for the laughs. For instance, Dreblin Jr, the son of the great detective Dreblin Sr, still cannot drive a car for his life (just like his father). In a hilarious scene, you see him testing his electric vehicle, whilst the vehicle is plugged at a charging station. The result – the jail wall breaks and convicts flee😂! In another scene, you see him entering in a bar while consuming sparkling water – except that the water has an actual sparkler in it😂. A couple of reels later, you see him fighting a couple of bad guys who are hilariously beaten up – one of them has his hands detached during a fight sequence that sees him getting slapped and punched by Dreblin without a possibility of a counter. And some bad guys literally stand in a line, awaiting their turn to be beaten up. Oh the parody of an Indian mass masala film in this very context is hilarious!

There are distinct moments of recall in the narrative too. In a sequence involving a romantic ‘fantasy’ getaway between Dreblin and Beth, you see them having a throttle with a murderous snowman, a sequence that is explicitly curated as a callback to the original film. In another riveting but hilarious sequence, you see Dreblin entering a crime spot only to be hilariously framed, while eventually somersaulting his way out of the windown and down on the road. This is immediately followed up by a car sequence that is a complete comedy arc in itself – the dashboard of the car breaks away even as a new while is inserted in the same breath. You have to watch it to believe it!

The area where the parody doesn’t always land is in the final act, that seemed an amalgamation of many ideas that didn’t always come together. Be it the discovery of the device, or even the protagonist’s face-off with the chief antagonist (a straight up reference to Musk and the underlying commentary of capitalism), felt half-baked, despite a couple of cameos involving a possibly-discarded-actor-for-this-reboot and a bird, that ensure that the climax is watchable. But just then, the end credits scene brings the film on track – the scene-freeze being a hilarious recall to the Police Squad TV show, the police car sequence acknowledging the stereotype of police officers enjoying donuts on duty, and the inclusion of another cameo by the same artist from the original film. And, wait for the end credits to roll too – you may just spot a Netflix password somewhere, along with identifying the names of actors mapped to the one-liners that they contributed in the film. Such an innovative way of making the viewers sit through the credits! Kudos to the writing!