Reviewers and bloggers are so happy to have a comedy, and a seemingly irreverent one, that they’re jumping up and down for “Naked Gun 2025.”

The bad news is that the reboot is a pale reminder of the Zucker-Abrams-Zucker movies we all loved so much, like “Airplane!” and the original “Naked Gun.”

The good news is that Liam Neeson gets a chance to send up his mostly preposterous resume of hard core melodramas in which he plays a detective trying to avenge a dead wife and save a kidnapped daughter (or some play on all that).

The other good news is that Pamela Anderson, fresh off her dramatic star turn in “The Last Showgirl,” is wearing makeup, looks like a million bucks, and is funny as heck. She also gets to show off her zany side with self-awareness. Her scene stealer is when she must fake being a confident jazz singer on stage. It’s comedy magic that actually hearkens back to the original films.

Unlike the original ZAZ movies, this “Naked Gun” attempts clever but but doesn’t often hit the target. A lot of the movie comes off as crude and scatological where it could have been much more sharply amusing. A lot of sequences don’t pay off. About halfway through, “Naked Gun” loses momentum and struggles to find a way home.

Some things are downright weird, like a split second cut to an unrecognizable Priscilla Presley, who was late star Leslie Nielsen’s romantic foil in the original movies.

But there are funny enough jokes to propel the first 45 minutes or so. Some of them have already been seen in the trailers. I liked the “take a chair” bit better in the commercial, frankly, because it’s cut to make sense. In the movie, there’s too much time between the set up and the payoff.

A lot of the really clever stuff in the ZAZ movies was kind of MAD Magazine material. Contrasting jokes in the foreground and background of a scene don’t really work here. I was disappointed that director Akiva Schaffer didn’t take advantage more of that element. A background sign in one scene just says something like “No Parking” when you’re hoping it will contain a sight gag.

There are nice tributes to Nielsen and George Kennedy, and the uncomfortable nod to OJ Simpson (again, seen in the trailer, so not a surprise). Again, seeing Liam Neeson is ridiculous situations is a lot of fun. But some of the gags — like constantly breaking phones or eating props — repeated way too often. What’s missing, though, is the ZAZ whimsy that made the original films so endearing.

The main thing is, the new “Naked Gun” is a relief from the painful political real life drama around us, and from the seriousness of every movie that’s come down the pike recently. Neeson’s Frank Drebin never stops to ponder the universe, there’s no navel gazing super hero stuff. He just keeps plodding along, unafraid to embarrass himself in the pursuit of an ending. It’s silly, and stupid, but I’ll bet word of mouth is great simply as a much needed salve this summer.

Suggestion: go back and see “Airplane!” and 1988’s “Naked Gun.”

I didn’t care for it, but Adam Sandler’s “Happy Gilmore 2” is number 1 in over 60 countries on Netflix.

Most reviews were middling to poor, giving the sequel to Sandler’s original hit a 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. People who’ve seen it don’t seem that thrilled, with the audience rating at just 71%.

Still, number in one over 60 countries is quite an achievement. The main outlier nations were Japan (number 10) and Indonesia. Also, number 7 in Bangla Desh, where survival is a daily issue.

Netflix’s Ted Sarandos was a little teed off at me for my review, pointing out that Sandler is a superstar and the popularity of the movie.

On the heels of Ted’s disappointment, I received an email from Toledo, Ohio reader Cynthia Mackley, who’s a marketing specialist and writer/web content manager.

I never print letters from readers, but Cynthia backed up Ted (who I don’t think she knows) and has some interesting insights.

Cynthia writes in response to “Fantastic Four” trailing off on Sunday:

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Happy Gilmore 2, cut into some of the expected box office for F4. While not my cup of tea, I know multiple coworkers who had planned watch parties for the weekend. Some who have those big inflatable movie screens and a projector (a really popular thing in the summer and fall in the Midwest where people have the space) And they were inviting other families over to watch with them and making a party out of it. Everybody was buzzing about HG2 last week, even my office mate’s 15-year-old and her friends who stopped in for a few minutes. I get it. Taking six people to the movies is an extravagant expense. You can pop the corn at home for pennies, fire up the BBQ, and have a few beers.

“My husband, who barely remembered watching the movie on video when it came out, watched the original and the sequel back to back yesterday because he wanted to be able to discuss with his coworkers. We’re big Marvel people, so we went to a 9 am showing of FF4 to fit it all in on Sunday. F4 was indeed fantastic. I looked the director up and realized he was in many of my favorite shows when he was a kid actor, including an episode of Highway to Heaven that I used to show to people on VHS to prove to them that Michael Landon could make them cry.”

She adds: “I’m fascinated by how few of my 20 and 30 something coworkers go to see films at the theater. Even their teens rarely go. Even going to see Superman, the theater was a bunch of middle-aged people.”

Thank you, Cynthia. Your voice is the one that needs to be heard in these matters!