NAKED GUN 33⅓: THE FINAL INSULT. Worthy conclusion

The second big-screen adventure of Frank Drebin turned out to be a bigger box-office hit than the original, so the producers quickly started thinking about a continuation. The next installment, with a subtitle suggesting that this would be the grand finale – Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult – appeared in theaters in 1994, three years after the “sequel.” Did the best cop in the special squad manage to solve his toughest case yet and once again stop ruthless criminals? And above all—did the audience laugh so hard that their stomachs hurt all over again?

Films in which the ZAZ trio had a hand were characterized not only by hundreds of gags per minute, but also by plots that were little more than excuses for the jokes.

Still, the screenplays always relied on some well-known motif, poking fun at popular tropes from other productions or entire film genres—Airplane! mocked disaster movies, Top Secret! parodied war and spy films, and The Naked Gun took aim at clichés from action and detective stories. In the third part of Frank Drebin’s adventures, the creators also draw on a familiar narrative device: they send the hero into retirement (thus acknowledging, at least to some extent, Leslie Nielsen’s age—he was 67 at the time). But such a seasoned, adrenaline-fueled cop isn’t going to sit idly by for long. Ironing clothes, grocery shopping, and baking cookies won’t satisfy him—so when the special squad learns that a dangerous criminal, Rocco (Fred Ward), is plotting an attack, they turn to Frank to go undercover in the prison where the gangster is finishing his sentence and gather information. This time, the filmmakers also borrow themes typical of dramas or slice-of-life films—the fate of someone suddenly sidelined in life, or the dilemmas of a couple trying to conceive. Of course, here they serve merely as pretexts for cramming the screen with as many gags as possible.

For the first time in the series, David Zucker did not sit in the director’s chair, limiting himself to co-writing the screenplay. He was replaced by debutant Peter Segal, later known for solid comedies such as Anger Management and Get Smart. Indeed, one can sense a slight shift in tone in “part three.” It is still an incredibly silly (in this case, that’s a compliment!) and absurd parody, packed with jokes and full of references to cinema classics (such as Brian De Palma’s The Untouchables or John Sturges’ The Great Escape), but it no longer feels as light and charming as its predecessors.

In theory, everything is presented just as before, and yet the whole seems a little weaker. Still—and this must be stressed—the third Naked Gun is far funnier than most comedies of its time and even those made today. It simply ranks a bit below the outstanding first two films.

The familiar, beloved cast is once again on screen. Nielsen, as always, perfectly inhabits the role, delivering the silliest lines with a straight face. He is joined by the equally funny Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy, and the infamous O. J. Simpson, for whom this was the last film before the eruption of the huge scandal and trial for his wife’s murder—his legal troubles began just a few months after the premiere.

“Weird Al” Yankovic also makes a brief appearance, by now a tradition in the series. Fred Ward and Kathleen Freeman (the unforgettable Mother Superior from The Blues Brothers), who play new characters, fit wonderfully into the film’s atmosphere. And Anna Nicole Smith is worth mentioning as the femme fatale trying to seduce Frank. The role had originally been intended for Pamela Anderson, but she had to withdraw due to other commitments.

The writers push the pedal to the floor in the finale, which takes place during the Academy Awards ceremony. The filmmakers invited various well-known personalities to appear, though most of them were recognizable mainly to American audiences rather than worldwide cinema stars (though a few big names did show up—for example, James Earl Jones and Raquel Welch). The closing sequence is no less funny than those of the earlier installments, with Frank once again accompanied by chaos, turning the solemn ceremony into a festival of gags and delightfully absurd scenes.

Thus, the last link in the Leslie Nielsen trilogy serves as a worthy conclusion to the original series and does not disgrace its predecessors, although it does fall a notch below them. Even so, it remains just as funny today as it was at the time of its release, and it’s definitely worth revisiting.