You might not know the name of David Zucker, but you'll know his work. He's been at the helm alongside brother Jerry and the late great Jim Abrahams of some of comedy's finest spoof movies. The Naked Gun, Top Secret!, Scary Movie 3 and 4, they've all had Zucker's involvement.
When speaking to Woman's World about the new Naked Gun movie, though, Zucker wasn't exactly enthused. "My brother, Jerry, and our partner, Jim Abrahams, started doing spoof comedies 50 years ago, and we originated our own style—and we did that so well that it looks easy, evidently. People started copying it, like [producer] Seth MacFarlane for the new Naked Gun. He totally missed it," he said.
You probably would expect a reboot to copy the original somewhat, but Zucker thinks the main point of criticism lies in The Naked Gun (2025)'s budget. "You shouldn't spend too much money on comedies, and one of our rules is about technical pizzazz. Big budgets and comedy are opposites, and in the new Naked Gun, you could see that they spent a lot of money on scenes full of technical pizzazz while trying to copy our style," he added. "Everyone's in it for the money now."
What did you think of The Naked Gun reboot?