Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult

Movie review by Tom Cassidy, Common Sense Media
Naked Gun 33 1/3: The Final Insult movie poster

Common Sense says

age 13+

Spoof cop "threequel" has innuendo, slapstick, stereotypes.

PG-13 1994 83 minutes
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A Lot or a Little?

The parents' guide to what's in this movie.

What Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Naked Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult is the third Naked Gun movie -- a spin off from the TV show Police Squad! -- and is thick with gags, innuendo, and slapstick violence. Leslie Nielsen reprises his role of Police Lt. Frank Drebin when he comes out of retirement to prevent a terrorist attack. Nothing is taken seriously with jokes delivered in a light-hearted spirit. However, some of the gags have not aged well, with jokes about police gun violence and others that rely on lazy stereotypes. One particularly iffy transgender joke crosses the line when viewed today. There are plenty of sex jokes about masturbation, bondage, and more. The violence is slapstick and unrealistic, such as a character's head being twisted off during a prison riot. As well as the dated humor, a number of the cultural references may need explaining to younger viewers.

What's the Story?

In NAKED GUN 33 ⅓: THE FINAL INSULT, Police Lt. Frank Drebin (Leslie Nielsen) is plucked from his peaceful retirement to go undercover in order to stop a terrorist attack at a high profile event.

Is It Any Good?

This third Naked Gun movie is the first without David Zucker directing and some of the magic is clearly lost. Nielsen is as charming as ever as the hapless Frank Drebin, but Naked Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult itself feels broad and off brand. While it's nice to see Drebin again, the plot is often sidelined to shoehorn in once-topical gags. The film leans hard into pop culture references, many of which are lost in the decades that have since passed. Watching with teens, parents will not only need to decide whether to explain some of the more suggestive sex jokes, but also decide whether to explain or sometimes even research the irrelevant references to popular early 1990s movies and news stories. For the average quality of the gags, it's not worth the bother.

By no means a comedy classic, Naked Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult still manages to be amusing for most of its short runtime. But by the third act -- a showdown at an awards ceremony complete with fake inserts spoofing other movies -- it's truly run its course. It's almost enough to have wished Frank Drebin had stayed in retirement, but not quite.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about the humor in Naked Gun 33 ⅓: The Final Insult. Did you find it funny? Why, or why not? Did you feel some of the jokes were in bad taste when judged by today's standards?

  • Talk about the violence in the movie. Can violence be funny? How did the movie keep it from being shocking?

  • Have you seen any of the other movies from the Naked Gun series? How did this compare?

Movie Details

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