Scary Movie 4
- In theaters April 14th, 2006
- Rated PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout,
some comic violence and language
- Runtime: 83 min
- 2 out of 5
COMPLETE REVIEW BELOW
Review by Anne Jackson
Photos courtesy of The Weinstein Company. Photographer:
Marni Grossman.
Six years ago, I was suckered in to attending a showing of
the original Scary Movie. My roommate and I walked out in
utter disbelief that we had just sacrificed 88 precious minutes
of our young lives. Understandably, I opted out of the
second and third installments of this franchise of pop-culture
parody.
Perhaps it was seeing Dr. Phil get hit in the head with large
metal objects, but the previews of the latest David Zucker
flick, Scary Movie 4, strangely reignited my curiosity and
provided a small flicker of hope that maybe - just maybe -
the fourth time would be a charm.
Or maybe not.
Scary Movie 4 combines only a handful of recent horror films
(Saw, The Grudge) and focuses mainly on poking fun of War of
the Worlds, The Village, and Brokeback Mountain. Stereotypically
blonde Cindy Campbell (Anna Farris) is hired to be a home health
care worker for a catatonic elderly woman. Throughout her stay
at the home, she sees visions of a creepy Japanese toddler and
finally connects with the boy who sends her on a mission to
bring resolution to his untimely death. Living next door is
Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko), who spoofs Tom Cruise's role in War
of the Worlds. The 'triPods" come to destroy the planet and
somewhere in the midst of a hundred or so sophomoric attempts
at humor, Tom Ryan has taken his kids and fled the triPod's
destruction. Meanwhile, Cindy Campbell and her newly-found yet
overly- sexed sidekick, Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall) land in The
Village. Enter one gay marriage, a blind girl having bowel movements
in town hall and before you know it, Leslie Neilsen is naked
Yes, that's right. Leslie Neilsen. Naked.
After the five minute nude scene, my eyes and attention had trouble
refocusing on the movie. To be quite honest, I was once again
buried beneath the locker room dialogue and over-the-top physical
comedy. The final two minutes were probably the funniest of the
night as Tom Ryan appears, much like Tom Cruise did, on the Oprah
Winfrey Show. I actually found myself laughing out loud. Finally.
When viewing a film such as Scary Movie 4, one can only expect
so much. As a spoof, Scary Movie was moderately adequate, but
as a movie, it falls horribly short of even a rental recommendation.
Maybe in the future, some genius filmmaker will be able to marry
spoof with style. I give it 2 out of 5 creepy toddlers.
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Anne is a writer, artist & coffee addict who lives with her
husband and two emotionally unstable cats in the Dallas area.
She works at Lake Pointe Church in Rockwall and in her free
time enjoys badly impersonating foreign accents, photography,
and eating anything chocolate. You can reach Anne on her blog
at
Flowerdust.net.
