Balfe and his ever-ready crew, several of whom contributing to cues here, were certainly capable of cranking out a brief replacement score on short notice, but this circumstance has happened all-too-often with Balfe, who finds himself cleaning up and catering to last-minute studio expectations at the expense of respected colleagues frequently. The composer had engaged in some of the same kind of parody work just prior with better results in Argylle, and he provides the lesser, bare bones basics needed for The Naked Gun to modernize the subject. The most obvious course correction with his music comes in the abandonment of the retro style and personality that defined the Newborn trilogy of scores, which never truly took themselves seriously and were quick to move the tongue around in the cheek. Conversely, Balfe, who confessed to being a huge fan of Newborn's work for the franchise, went with the filmmaker demands to treat this fourth film as a far more serious and modern topic of parody. This meant that much of the retro style that saturated the Newborn scores is left behind as Balfe essentially writes an imitation of his own Mission: Impossible music, with a touch of Hans Zimmer of the 2000's along the way. By taking the tone to more serious levels of bravado in The Naked Gun, Balfe manages to lose the charm of Newborn's intent, leaving the outright silliness up to source cue and song placements. His broad low brass strokes, electronic embellishments, and string ostinatos are too easy to pilfer for parody purposes, but this usage is so ubiquitously applied to dead-serious films that it's actually not funny hearing that music here. He even outright pulls Mission: Impossible material for "Project Inferno." Some might find that in-joke amusing, but Balfe's tone for all these scores has become so definitive in sculpting expectations of generic film music in this age that one is left seeking the Newborn touch instead. Balfe doesn't completely ignore the franchise's past, stating three of the Newborn identities but doing so in drive-by cameo fashion that doesn't really mesh well with his original themes and 2020's action tone. The score thus struggles to convey any meaningful narrative or espouse a consistent personality, failing to be funny by route of its own seriousness.

Frustratingly, the main franchise theme by Newborn doesn't factor in the actual score for The Naked Gun, the only payoff for the idea in the soundtrack coming in "The Naked Gun (Gordon Goodwin Remix)," which is the highlight of the album. This very spirited and excellent, fully orchestral recording of the classic theme swaps the investigation/loneliness interlude sequence with Balfe's own villain theme, and the results are superb. That Newborn investigation/loneliness theme ends "My Name is Frank Drebin Jr." but is too slow and half-hearted in its performance to really suffice, a disappointing rendition despite reprising the right jazzy personality. The vintage Drebin hero theme may slightly inform the pretty piano sensitivity of "Hall of Legends" but is outwardly reprised with bravado and great, resounding depth in "Press Conference." Balfe's new love theme follows the same general structure and style as the original alternative ("The Seduction" in 1988), a blend of seedy jazz and sappy romance in "There She Was Again" that is reprised on solo trumpet lamentation in "Turkey Talk." His conspiracy material devolves into The Dark Knight personality when allowed but does start with more promise and a Jerry Goldsmith touch from elegantly seductive solo violin and electronics in "Something Fowl." The villain theme becomes weightier in typical Remote Control tones in "Project Inferno," the latter half of the first minute reprising the equivalent from Balfe's Mission: Impossible entries and that mode returning near the end of the cue. This mundane posturing thumps through "Have a Nice Trip" before erupting in very standard action fare, and it builds ominously early in "The Main Event" and repeats throughout the cue in generic form. Brass lines join string ostinatos for typical action pounding in "Calm People Up," this standard and tired approach reduced to suspense in "Two Kodiak Bears." The short score is joined on album by two comedic songs. Unlistenable is the surviving McNeely co-written one, "Sassafras Chicken in D," a stage performance of pure embarrassment for Anderson. Neeson's version of the same kind of idiocy comes in the butchered love song, "My Sweet Beth." Once again, Balfe earns his pay by fixing a perceived studio problem, but The Naked Gun has none of the allure of Newborn's originals. McNeely is owed a sincere apology from the universe.  **   @Amazon.com: CD or Download