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Scary Movie 3

"Scary Movie 3" is a lazy, all-around flat, disappointingly adequate send-up of just about every successful scary movie made in the last three years. What makes a movie like this disappointing, you may ask? The fact that it’s a product of those movie-spoof gods David Zucker and Pat Proft. For the uninformed, they’re the guys who gave us the "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun" franchises, not to mention other parody institutions such as "Kentucky Fried Movie" and "Baseketball". So how they fumbled this one is anyone’s guess. Horror movie hits like "The Ring", "The Sixth Sense" and "Signs" should’ve been easy game for these guys. Sadly, it isn’t.

The first two "Scary Movie" films had a biting edge to its comedy, that’s sorely missed in this one. The Wayans brothers (Keenan, Shawn and Marlon) were responsible for that, and one can’t help but wonder what they could’ve done with all the "8 Mile" parodying done in this movie.

Anna Faris is the only remnant from the first two films, and she steals most of her scenes again as the breathily, clueless Cindy Campbell. She’s still the straight gal for most of the gags around her, and her delivery is just as fresh and funny as it was in the first two. Too bad the material here is so sub par. Not to mention her co-stars; Simon Rex is the Eminem character, and his facial expressions and reactions are little more than exaggerated mimics of what fellow co-star Charlie Sheen does in his scenes. Both of their performances are utterly forgetful.

Cameos galore fill this film with little impact. Darrel Hammond shows up for a nanosecond in a role that was obviously dumped, possibly last second, onto the cutting room floor. George Carlin is here, so is Queen Latifah and Denise Richards. Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy manage to make the most humor out of their scene together.

All in all, "Scary Movie 3" is a dim collection of scary movie quotes, endless stunt falls and lame physical comedy, that could have been so much more. A rare belly laugh moment comes early on, parodying the actor-camera twirling M. Night Shymalan’s characters did in "Signs". It consists of Sheen and Simon dancing about one another outside their farm to an exaggerated "swish" sound, as they spin ridiculously in place while looking for the source of the screams coming from their cornfield. For a moment you think the film is headed towards ripe satire. The next scene shows a bunch of dogs in sunglasses lying around a bong.

I suppose there’s always "Scary Movie 4".

Written by: Mike Enright

Reviewers Rating: 4
Reader's Rating: 7.80
Reader's Votes: 40

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