Ahoy, squirts! Quint here with a pair of test screening reviews for the fourth installment in the SCARY MOVIE series.
I know it's not a popular opinion, as is evidenced in one of the reviews below, but I haven't really liked any of the SCARY MOVIE films except for SCARY MOVIE 2, which I find fuckin' hilarious. I'm the only one, seemingly, that thinks so... I can't explain it... I think it has something to do with Chris Elliot, Tim Curry and David Cross being in the film. There's also the fact that they goof on classics as well as modern flicks... and not so familiar ones as well, like THE CHANGELING.
I've come to terms with my isolation on this stance.
Anyway, the word on SCARY MOVIE 4 seems to be in the "good, but not great" category. As always, keep in mind that they're still tweaking the movie. It has another month and some change before release. Here's the first of two reviews. Enjoy!
Hey Guys,
Just got back from a test screening of Scary Movie 4 (off a really poor digital copy - they kept warning us about bootlegging, and that's precisely what it looked like). I was prepared to just check off poor for every single question on the card, but I was somewhat surprised for the most part, as it was far better than the last two (in that I actually laughed more than twice). However, it is still a travesty when you consider what the creators achieved in the past (i.e. Airplane, Naked Gun, etc).
The story, such as it is, was mainly copped from The Grudge, War of the Worlds, and The Village, with one or two scene parodies of other films, most of them not even remotely horror (Million Dollar Baby?) thrown in to pad the running time and make a few more stale jokes. Craig Bierko plays the Tom Cruise role in the War of the Worlds segments, Anna Faris plays Sarah Michelle Gellar's role from the Grudge. Most surprising/confusing was that Charlie Sheen actually reprises his role from SM3, playing a parody of Bill Pullman's role from The Grudge, and then later, Pullman himself shows up playing William Hurt's role from The Village. Whatever. As expected, for every good line or gag, there were 20 that didn't work at all. There's a running gag with Bierko's daughter being physically abused that is never once funny, and almost every scene has a "joke" where Bierko hits Faris or some extra, "accidentally" (albeit telegraphed from a mile away) and then makes a "whoops!" face. Not funny the first time, not funny the 40th.
The movie stank of a hurried production, with most of the actors showing up for one or two scenes, some never even connecting to the others. Faris is sort of on autopilot (in fact, Bierko gets most of the laughs, mostly with some random lines and facial expressions). Leslie Nielsen shows up for about 5 minutes, and only the very first one is funny (a Fahrenheit 9/11 joke, which seemingly everyone in the theater besides me took about 30 seconds too long to get). Chris Elliott appears briefly, playing a different (but equally unfunny) character that he did in part 2. Michael Madsen appears long enough for the viewer to wonder why, then just disappears. And if anyone can explain the Chingy cameo, they are a better man than I. Etc, etc.
Basically, the stuff they have been (and likely will continue) selling the movie on, isn't funny at all, but it's worth a matinee (or free screening) for the little bits in between.
BC
And this second review is ready and waiting for your curious eyes. But beware... here there be spoilers. Like, a lot. Enjoy you spoiler hounds!
Hey Harry,
My name is Talking Tina, and I'm going to review Scary Movie 4!
Just SAW Scary Movie 4 (couldn't resist/such a cheap easy lay of a pun) and I have to say...yeah. That's about it. While it is a very funny movie, and sometimes a VERY funny movie, it definitely feels a bit tired out. Sort of like a comedian who's talent is ingrained so deep he can still hit home runs while nodding off to sleep, but has lost the ability to throw a curveball.
I've always been a fan of the Scary Movie series, David Zucker, and anything involving Michael Madsen. So when the21review.com sent me a free screening pass to the Burbank AMC I couldn't resist.
Spoilers Ahead, Starbuck!
The movie starts off paroding the first SAW. Shaq and Dr. Phil have only a minute or so to free themselves of their leg braces before dying from the room's airborne nerve gas. There's actually a LOT of SAW in this one, in fact the story HINGES (god, I am such a complete idiot) upon the Argento puppet from both Saw movies, as it does the tripods from War of the Worlds to provide the conflict to the heroic parodies of Cruise from War, and Geller from Grudge, played by Craig Bierko and Anna Farris, respectfully, fuck, do I really need to mention the word "respectfully," furthermore, do I even NEED to mention that Anna Farris plays the girl? She's become such a staple of the series I don't know if I can imagine them without her, or her without it.
Anyways, the movie offers more successful gags per minute than any film in recent memory, nice cameos, though too short (Madsen, Pullman, Chris Elliott, Debra Wilson channeling her MadTV Oprah dead-on impersonation, and James Earl Jones, who actually gets hit by a bus while delivering Freeman's lines from WOTW) and even features a slow Brokeback Mountain Parody with Anthony Anderson in the role of Heath Ledger.
While the screenwriters have Shaq scared he is being held prisoner by Kobe Bryant, and are able to get Dr. Phil to say things about himself I enjoyed hearing, the irritating rule of comedy applies here that states it's impossible to laugh at someone making fun of themself. No matter how sneerily you laugh at them, you know in the back of your mind you're also lauging WITH them, thus bringing the fun down a few notches. However, I realize that ever since the Wayans' left the series it's definately been going for a more mainstream mass market approach. And while my mind was doing double backflips trying to compensate for this comedic rule and find the very well written lines funny, the highscagers on every side of me were LITERALLY screaming and loving every minute of it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not bitter or trying to be "above it all" here, as I said before the film is VERY funny in certain parts. But for those of us who thrive more on the raw (if not sometimes awkward) energy of a fresh series, rather than the sure shot approach of veteran talent such as Zucker and Abrahams, probably won't find themselves dusting off a reservation slot in their DVD shelf for this entry. This one is good, but beware; with cooks like these...it's almost well done.
Until next time...
