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Scary Movie 3 6 out of 10 Posted: 07/04/08
Running time: 1:20 MPAA rating: PG-13 (pervasive crude and sexual humor, language, comic violence and drug references.) Peruvian rating: Mayores de 14
Cast:
Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, Regina Hall, Leslie Nielsen,
Anthony Anderson, D.L. Hughley |
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Given the number of terrible “spoof movies” that have been released in recent years – the unbearable Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet Spartans are perfect examples -, it’s always useful to go back to the original films that started it all. OK, if I wanted to go to the really original ones, I would have to talk about the hilarious Naked Gun movies, or the memorable Airplane flicks, but today, instead, I plan to talk about Scary Movie 3, the first David Zucker-directed film of the saga.
The first two Scary Movies were really funny – especially number one. But after the Wayans Brothers decided not to carry out making these kinds of films, David Zucker – who directed and sometimes wrote some of the aforementioned films that “started it all” – was hired to continue with the saga. Because of this, we were given Scary Movie 3. And although the flick is not as hilarious as Zucker’s previous efforts, or even as original and fresh as the first instalment of the “quadrilogy”, it, at least, isn’t as stupid or unfunny as Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg’s cash-ins. Yes, I laughed with Scary Movie 3. It might not be the funniest or most intelligent motion picture ever made, but it is great entertainment for those who aren’t in the mood of thinking while watching a movie. It’s stupid, of course, but it’s also pretty entertaining.
This particular instalment spoofs four famous blockbusters, of which only two are actual “scary movies”: 8 Mile, Signs, The Ring and The Matrix Reloaded. After watching a killer video tape, Cindy Campbell (the always-reliable Anna Faris) has only seven days before she gets killed. The story doesn’t make much sense – it never does in these kinds of films -, but anyway… she gets involved in a ghost story as well as an alien invasion, gets help from her friend from the previous movies, Brenda (Regina Hall), falls in love with a white rapper-wannabe, George (Simon Rex), and also helps the President (Leslie Nielsen) to stop the aliens from attacking. There’s also a story concerning a minister-turned-farmer (Charlie Sheen), whose corn fields are being invaded by the extraterrestrials.
As always, Zucker and his team show that they can manage even the most tepid and uninspired joke seem like a laugh-out-loud gag, but they really can’t make the whole movie work. There are many instances in which I laughed – physical comedy with Charlie Sheen’s character, some gags concerning the president and, of course, the infamous Michael Jackson scene -, but there are also many (and some would argue too many) failed jokes which are, simply put, stupid and unfunny. The fact that Zucker had to reduce the film’s rating doesn’t help either – the movie can’t be as daring or as, well, raw as the previous two instalments. There are tons of bodily fluids and dirty jokes, and although some of them are funny in a really stupid of way, one really has to be in a certain mood to laugh at them. This definitely isn’t the kind of movie that will make you laugh in a bad day.
Performances are adequate, I guess. It’s really difficult to judge the actors in these kinds of films, but since most of them manage to make the audience laugh, I guess they’re doing a pretty good job. Anna Faris is suitably good and innocent-looking as Cindy; Regina Hall gets some of the biggest (and most over-the-top) laughs; Leslie Nielsen is his usual self as the president, delivering jokes in a dead-pan fashion; Simon Rex acts stupid as George, and Charlie Sheen looks lost. He gets involved in some funny situations, I’ll give you that, but he doesn’t act with energy. There are also some cameos that, while second-rate, are welcome. We have the likes of Denise Richards, (her only scene is pretty funny), Queen Latifah (whose appearance is surprisingly uninspired) Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy (spoofing themselves, actually) and George Carlin. (Whose Architect is amusing, but not as funny as it should’ve been.)
Although I accept the fact that Scary Movie 3 is a dumb film and I laugh with it (and, unfortunately, sometimes also at it), there’s something that has always bothered me about it: it looks cheap. I don’t know if Zucker and his team did it on purpose, or if they were parodying cheap, sci-fi films or something, but the film has an undoubtedly cheap look that make it feel like a TV movie. (It doesn’t help that most of the actors appearing in it are not precisely first-rate either.) The alien costumes at the end are laughable (I was half-expecting a zipper to appear in their backs), “special” effects are ridiculous and set design looks improvised. I’m not saying spoof films should have visual effects from ILM or Weta, or that they should look exactly like the blockbusters they are parodying, but it nevertheless bothered me and somehow detracted from the whole experience. Fortunately, the filmmakers solved this problem for the next instalment, Scary Movie 4, which decidedly looks more “professional.”
Scary Movie 3 is a mild diversion. I you have nothing else to do on a Saturday afternoon, I would recommend you to watch it, if only for curiosity. It’s got some funny jokes and physical gags, decent performances (the actors have an effective sense of comedic timing) and although it’s not precisely a laugh-riot, it is definitely superior to the likes of Epic Movie or Meet the Spartans. (I’m not sure how that’s a compliment, but well…) I hate the fact that Seltzer and Friedberg are releasing a new turd this year (something called Disaster Movie) and the Zucker and company aren’t giving us a new Scary Movie. The saga might not be genius, but I simply cannot understand how the formers’ films are green-lighted, and Zucker’s films are not. If you want to experience the man’s true genius, though, I’d recommend you to watch Airplane and The Naked Gun. Now those are real spoof movies.
©2008 Sebastián Zavala - GG site