Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult (1994) Paramount/Action-Comedy RT: 83 minutes Rated PG-13 (off-color humor) Director: Peter Segal Screenplay: Pat Proft, David Zucker and Robert LoCash Music: Ira Newborn Cinematography: Robert M. Stevens Release date: March 18, 1994 (US) Cast: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, O.J. Simpson, Fred Ward, Kathleen Freeman, Anna Nicole Smith, Ellen Greene, Ed Williams, Raye Birk. Box Office: $51.1M (US)/$132M (World)
Rating: ** ½
I wouldn’t say the three-quel Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult is necessarily bad. It’s just tired and worn out. Some of it is quite funny. The opening, a take-off of the famous train station scene from The Untouchables which itself was inspired by the Odessa Steps sequence from the Soviet silent film Battleship Potemkin, is a riot with Lt. Frank Drebin and his team dealing with multiple baby carriages and O.J. Simpson nearly spiking one of the saved babies like a football. Unfortunately, the movie doesn’t reach these insane heights again, at least not until the finale at the Oscars. I’ll come back to that.
Team ZAZ stays out of Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult for the most part. David Zucker turned the directorial reins to first-timer Peter Segal (Tommy Boy). He co-wrote it with series vet Pat Proft and Robert LoCash. He and his usual partners-in-crime, the AZ portion of ZAZ, serve as executive producers meaning they have little in the way of creative input. The result is a fitfully amusing spoof of cop shows with Leslie Nielsen reprising his role as bungling cop Frank Drebin of Police Squad.
The plot, as if it even matters, centers on a terrorist plot about to go down in the City of Angels. Somebody has hired bomber Rocco Dillon (Ward, Tremors) to pull off an attack against the US. Never mind that he’s currently incarcerated. Drebin is called out of retirement to stop him. His wife Jane (Presley, The Adventures of Ford Fairlane), who wants to have a baby with him, doesn’t want him returning to the force. She gets mad and leaves him when she finds out he went behind her back and helped his friends and former co-workers, Capt. Ed Hocken (Kennedy, Airport) and Det. Nordberg (Simpson, The Towering Inferno), on the case.
With nothing left to lose, Drebin goes undercover in the prison where Rocco is being held. He gets close to him in order to find out what he has planned. He helps him escape by tunneling out of the place. Along with his mother (Freeman, The Blues Brothers) and girlfriend Tanya (Smith, Skyscraper), Rocco intends to plant a bomb at the upcoming Academy Awards ceremony. It’s up to Drebin to find the bomb and prevent a major catastrophe.
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult picks up a bit when it spoofs the Oscars. It’s a sequence chock full of celebrity cameos. Regular party guest Weird Al Yankovic shows up with Wheel of Fortune letter-turner Vanna White as his date. Pia Zadora (The Lonely Lady) does a song-and-dance number that gets sabotaged by Drebin. We also see Florence Henderson, Elliott Gould, Mary Lou Retton, Shannen Doherty and James Earl Jones. PLUS, you get to hear a line you probably thought you’d never hear uttered: “It looks like Phil Donahue throwing up into a tuba.”
What can I possibly say about Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult that I didn’t say about the previous two? It’s not as consistently funny. A lot of time, it’s merely amusing. I did chuckle a bit at the whole Thelma & Louise bit where Jane hits the road with her friend Louise (Greene, Little Shop of Horrors). Sadly, there are times when Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult seems to be straining for laughs. It really shows signs of wear and tear. Even the cast, with the exception of Nielsen, looks like they’re ready to call it a day with this series. To be fair, model/sex object Smith has a gift for comedy in addition to her two assets.
Again, Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult is not a bad movie. It has just enough laughs to make it worth at least one viewing. Keep your expectations low and you’ll enjoy it.
