Hi everyone,

My latest film music review is of the score for the new comedy sequel THE NAKED GUN, with music by Lorne Balfe.

https://moviemusicuk.us/2025/08/05/the-naked-gun-lorne-balfe/

Enjoy

Jon

I have a distinctly less positive impression of this score than you do, but glad to hear it made someone really happy! At least the Glorious Gordo version of the Newborn theme is fantastic - I wish the rest of the score sounded like it and not The Dark Knight Part 427.

> I wish the rest of the score sounded like it and not The Dark Knight Part 427.

I understand why people keep saying that, but that music really *is* the joke. That's the whole point. The opening scene of Drebin foiling the bank robbery is staged and shot like the Heath Ledger/Joker bank robbery scene from The Dark Knight, and Balfe parodying that music is what helps sell the scene.

The same with the Mission Impossible parody later in the movie - the P.L.O.T. Device and the scheme that the villain comes up with *is* a Mission Impossible scenario and, again, Balfe spoofing his own music for that franchise is a massive part of why the jokes land.

Jon

> I understand why people keep saying that, but that music really *is* the
> joke. That's the whole point. The opening scene of Drebin foiling the bank
> robbery is staged and shot like the Heath Ledger/Joker bank robbery scene
> from The Dark Knight, and Balfe parodying that music is what helps sell
> the scene.

> The same with the Mission Impossible parody later in the movie - the
> P.L.O.T. Device and the scheme that the villain comes up with *is* a
> Mission Impossible scenario and, again, Balfe spoofing his own music for
> that franchise is a massive part of why the jokes land.

> Jon

Yeah within the first 20 seconds of hearing this score I started chuckling - we don't often get a composer parodying the kind of music he's often had to write straight-faced for serious movies, but when it happens (like HGW's wonderful power-anthem spoof score for Team America), it's quite humorous.

> Yeah within the first 20 seconds of hearing this score I started chuckling
> - we don't often get a composer parodying the kind of music he's often had
> to write straight-faced for serious movies, but when it happens (like
> HGW's wonderful power-anthem spoof score for Team America), it's quite
> humorous.

How often do we get a composer parodying their own music in the first place?

> How often do we get a composer parodying their own music in the first place?

It’s rare. Ennio Morricone with My Name Is Nobody probably remains the most prominent example.

> How often do we get a composer parodying their own music in the first
> place?

Jerry Goldsmith did it a few times on several Joe Dante films, most notably The 'Burbs and Small Soldiers

> How often do we get a composer parodying their own music in the first
> place?

Does 1941 count? (Jaws and Close Encounters references)

> I understand why people keep saying that, but that music really *is* the
> joke. That's the whole point. The opening scene of Drebin foiling the bank
> robbery is staged and shot like the Heath Ledger/Joker bank robbery scene
> from The Dark Knight, and Balfe parodying that music is what helps sell
> the scene.

> The same with the Mission Impossible parody later in the movie - the
> P.L.O.T. Device and the scheme that the villain comes up with *is* a
> Mission Impossible scenario and, again, Balfe spoofing his own music for
> that franchise is a massive part of why the jokes land.

It would help if the Dark Knight music and Balfe's Mission Impossible music sounded a bit more different from one another in the first place...

> It would help if the Dark Knight music and Balfe's Mission
> Impossible music sounded a bit more different from one another in the
> first place...

If anything a score like this just highlights how absurdly stagnant this kinda music has been for like what? Nearly 20 years at this point.