‘Wrongfully Accused’ A Wrongheaded Attempt At Humor

If there’s a nagging feeling that “Wrongfully Accused” is going down an awfully familiar, banana-peel strewn road, then think no further than those “Naked Gun” movies.

Writer-director Pat Proft apparently hasn’t.

A woefully uninspired spoof of a certain Harrison Ford-Tommy Lee Jones vehicle, with assorted bits of the last couple of Tom Clancy pictures and “Mission: Impossible,” not to mention some Bogart flicks, tossed into the would-be shenanigans, this prime example of “deja view” will unlikely find sizable audiences on its trail.

As takes on “The Fugitive” go, “U.S. Marshals” was actually funnier.

Leslie Nielsen, in Frank Drebin autopilot, is wrongfully-accused Ryan Harrison. If you’ve already figured out that the first name is the last name of Clancy hero Jack, while the last name is … well, then you’re already one beat ahead of the picture’s creaky comic pace.

Desperate to clear his name of a nasty crossbow-murder charge, Ryan goes looking for the real culprit - a one-armed, one-legged, one-eyed man - while U.S. Marshal Fergus Falls (Richard Crenna doing a pretty good Tommy Lee Jones) is doggedly determined to bring Ryan to justice.

Certainly Proft comes by the material honestly, having figured into the writing credits for all three “Naked Guns” as well as the pair of “Hot Shots!” but this far into the game, the old “toss everything out and see what sticks” approach just doesn’t cut it anymore. In this case, the screen might as well have been Teflon-coated.

And without old cohorts Priscilla Presley, George Kennedy and, of course, O.J., to shoulder their share of the shtick, Nielsen is essentially left to go it alone, although Melinda McGraw works hard at being the resident femme fatale and, in an inadvertent tribute to the late Shari Lewis, Lamb Chop makes a cameo appearance.

Production values on this filmed-in-Canada effort can’t be faulted. Bill Conti’s score is deliberately all-over-the-place, while the production design, credited to one Michael Bolton, really sings. Sorry, but that’s about as good as the jokes get around here.

“Wrongfully Accused” Locations: East Sprague, North Division, Coeur d’Alene, Post Falls Credits: Directed by Pat Proft, starring Leslie Nielsen, Richard Crenna, Kelly Le Brock, Melinda McGraw, Michael York, Sandra Bernhard Running time: 1:27 Rating: PG-13