The Naked Gun 2 1/2: The Smell of Fear

Published 2024-03-09

If you only see one movie this year... you ought to get out more

Film info

Director
David Zucker
Year / Run time 1991 · 1hr 25m
Series The Naked Gun (2 of 2)
Genres Comedy, Crime

Making Clouseau look like Poirot, LAPD's most clueless cop Frank Drebin bumbles his way through another quickfire case of the spoofs. It's another fine mix of subtle sight gags and broad slapstick with Drebin out to thwart an environmentally-unfriendly government plot while trying to get over his failed relationship with his beloved Jane.

Live blog

Time	Comment
3:15	Female captain of the police, love it.
4:30	SPIL is genius, but KABOOM is perfect.
12:51	There's so much going on in each scene, it's mad.
15:42	"A moustache. About six foot three." "That's an awfully big moustache."
21:34	Ding Dong the Witch is Dead!
26:22	I've really got to start busting through doors more aggressively.
33:05	Loudhailers really are useless.
42:57	A fridge like Mary Poppins' bag would be amazing.
48:56	"You had no way of knowing the man you were dating was a vicious, murdering psychopath."
57:49	I love it!
1:04:25	They're very co-ordinated for an unintentional mariachi band.
1:09:23	They don't need to be grumpy, we're still not using renewables as much as we should, even three decades later.
1:21:29	You can't even take your eyes off the credits.

Thoughts

I don't remember a lot about the first film, other than enjoying it more than I'd exepcted. As part of 90s night, I was surprised to realise this sequel snuck into the chosen decade so we gave it a go. It's more of the same surreal comedy as you'd expect, and although hit and miss throughout, there were many laugh out loud moments. And I hadn't realised just how closely you need to watch, even paintings in the background could be a gag, or background actors doing something that you might otherwise miss. Good, funny, restores a bit of faith in films, even if nowhere near perfect.

Rating: 3 / 5