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The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear poster

Movies that feel likeThe Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear (1991)

Bumbling lieutenant Frank Drebin is out to foil the big boys in the energy industry, who intend to suppress technology that will put them out of business.

If you loved The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear, the closest films we have are Raising Arizona (1987), Blazing Saddles (1974) and Adam's Apples (2005). All three share The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear's witty and playful feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Lost in America (1985).

🍅 77% Rotten Tomatoes★ 6.9 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. David Zuckerwittyplayfulgrittydarkly funny
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Paramount Plus Premium · Peacock Premium

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If The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988) · Naked Gun 33⅓: The Final Insult (1994)

Raising Arizona poster
Raising Arizona
1987 · dir. Joel Coen
🍅 91%★ 7.3comedy · crime

Common ground: satire

When a childless couple—an ex-con and an ex-cop—take one of a wealthy family’s quintuplets to raise as their own, their lives grow more complicated than anticipated.

Blazing Saddles poster
Blazing Saddles
1974 · dir. Mel Brooks
🍅 89%★ 7.7western · comedy

Two things both keep coming back to: parody and spoof

The difference: Played as western first

Crafty railroad worker Bart becomes the first Black sheriff of Rock Ridge, a frontier town about to be destroyed in order to make way for a new railroad. Initially, the citizens of Rock Ridge harbor a racial bias toward their new protector. However, they warm to him after realizing that Bart and his perpetually drunk gunfighter friend Jim are their only defense against a wave of thugs sent to rid the town of its population.

Adam's Apples poster
Adam's Apples
2005 · dir. Anders Thomas Jensen
🍅 70%★ 7.7drama · comedy · crime

Both are built on the same subject: dark comedy

A neo-nazi sentenced to community service at a church clashes with the blindly devotional priest.

In China They Eat Dogs poster
In China They Eat Dogs
1999 · dir. Lasse Spang Olsen
★ 7.3action · comedy · crime

Both keep coming back to the same thing: dark comedy

Arvid is an ordinary bank clerk who lives a rather unassuming life with his dear girlfriend. But his life is turned completely upside down when he bravely manages to avert a robbery against the bank where he works.

The Ladykillers poster
The Ladykillers
1955 · dir. Alexander Mackendrick
🍅 100%★ 7.6comedy · crime

The same mix in both: wit, then play

The difference: Made in the 1950s, in a different era of the craft

Five oddball criminals planning a bank robbery rent rooms on a cul-de-sac from an octogenarian widow under the pretext that they are classical musicians.

Lost in America poster
Lost in America
1985 · dir. Albert Brooks
🍅 95%★ 7comedy

The same preoccupation in both: satire

The difference: Less gritty, more its own thing

David and Linda Howard are successful yuppies from LA. When he gets a job disappointment, David convinces Linda that they should quit their jobs, liquidate their assets, and emulate the movie Easy Rider, spending the rest of their lives traveling around America...in a Winnebago.

Drop Dead Gorgeous poster
Drop Dead Gorgeous
1999 · dir. Michael Patrick Jann
🍅 47%★ 6.7comedy

Darkly funny comedy, and it commits to that

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

In a small Minnesota town, the annual beauty pageant is being covered by a TV crew. Former winner Gladys Leeman wants to make sure her daughter follows in her footsteps; explosions, falling lights, and trailer fires prove that. As the Leemans are the richest family in town, the police are pretty relaxed about it all. Despite everything, main rival (but sweet) Amber Atkins won't give up without a fight.

Kind Hearts and Coronets poster
Kind Hearts and Coronets
1949 · dir. Robert Hamer
🍅 100%★ 8comedy · crime

Gritty crime in both cases

When his mother eloped with an Italian opera singer, Louis Mazzini was cut off from her aristocratic family. After the family refuses to let her be buried in the family mausoleum, Louis avenges his mother's death by attempting to murder every family member who stands between himself and the family fortune. But when he finds himself torn between his longtime love and the widow of one of his victims, his plans go awry.

Death to Smoochy poster
Death to Smoochy
2002 · dir. Danny DeVito
🍅 42%★ 6.3comedy · crime · drama

Comedy built on wit, twice over

Tells the story of Rainbow Randolph, the corrupt, costumed star of a popular children's TV show, who is fired over a bribery scandal and replaced by squeaky-clean Smoochy, a puffy fuchsia rhinoceros. As Smoochy catapults to fame - scoring hit ratings and the affections of a network executive - Randolph makes the unsuspecting rhino the target of his numerous outrageous attempts to exact revenge and reclaim his status as America's sweetheart.

Scary Movie poster
Scary Movie
2000 · dir. Keenen Ivory Wayans
🍅 52%★ 6.3comedyParamount+Peacock

One thread runs through both: parody

A familiar-looking group of teenagers find themselves being stalked by a more-than-vaguely recognizable masked killer! As the victims begin to pile up and the laughs pile on, none of your favorite scary movies escape the razor-sharp satire of this outrageously funny parody!

In the Loop poster
In the Loop
2009 · dir. Armando Iannucci
🍅 94%★ 7.4comedy

Crime with a pulse of play, in both cases

The US President and the UK Prime Minister are planning on launching a war in the Middle East, but—behind the scenes—government officials and advisers are either promoting the war or are trying to prevent it.

The Gentlemen poster
The Gentlemen
2020 · dir. Guy Ritchie
🍅 75%★ 7.8comedy · crimeNetflix

Both lean on grit more than on comedy

American expat Mickey Pearson has built a highly profitable marijuana empire in London. When word gets out that he’s looking to cash out of the business forever it triggers plots, schemes, bribery and blackmail in an attempt to steal his domain out from under him.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear’s defining feeling.