Post by Mr.HoRrOr on Apr 17, 2006 16:51:13 GMT -5
Plot:Fourth film in the popular Spoof series which parodies recent horror and sci-fi movies such as "Saw 2", "The Grudge", "War of the Worlds", and "The Village".
Cast:
Anna Faris
Shaun Landers
Shaquille O'Neal
Regina Hall
Dr. Phil Mcgraw
Leslie Nielsen
Carmen Electra
Simon Rex
Michael Madsen
Craig Bierko
Anthony Anderson
Link Baker
Amber Borycki
Beverley Breuer
Conchita Campbell
Chingy
DeRay Davis
Kathryn Dobbs
Kevin Hart
Crystal Lowe
Garrett Masuda
Jessica McLeod
Beau Mirchoff
Jana Mitsoula
Bill Pullman
John Reardon
Charlie Sheen
Rorelee Tio
Allison Warren
Chris Williams
Debra Wilson
My Thoughts:Scarily bad.
Review:After the disappointing outing that was "Scary Movie 3", I was expecting a much better effort with the fourth film which recently opened in theaters. What I got shockingly enough, was a movie worse than the previous sequel, which is saying alot. "Scary Movie 4" once again returns Anna Faris as the dimwitted yet adorable Cindy Campbell and Regina Hall as her best friend Brenda. Along with a few old faces from the third movie such as Charlie Sheen, Anthony Anderson, Deray Davis, Simon Rex, and Leslie Nielsen. Sheen and Rex however don't get much screentime in this sequel and I guess for them that's a good thing considering how bad this movie really was. The "Scary Movie" films aren't hard to follow as a comedy series. They take recent horror movies, pick out scenes and characters from those movies, and put or in this movies case try to put...a comedical spin on them. But "Scary Movie 4" as a spoof comedy only has one thing going for it, humor. Unfortunately, when the humor fails to be create laughs, this brick house comes crumbling down incredibly quickly. The new faces in this third sequel come in the form of Craig Bierko, Shaun Landers, Conchita Campbell, Debra Wilson, Michael Madsen, and cameos by Dr. Phil and Shaq. The "Saw" spoof cameos by Dr. Phil and Shaq are about as funny as this movie gets, which is a shame since the "Saw" spoof is the movies opening scene. The following hour and 20 minutes, save for a scene where Cindy is talking in japanese to the "grudge" kid...fail to garner any real laughs because the gags are simply so cheap and unfunny. This isn't the kind of sharp, raunchy, and over the line comedy we saw in the first two movies directed and written by the Wayan's brothers. This is stuff you'd see on Mad TV and while it may work on that show, it is way too watered down a type of humor for the "Scary Movie" series. The one bright spot about "Scary Movie 4" is that it is slightly better written that the third installment, but alot of the jokes from part 3 are also recycled in part 4. Which is not a good thing considering most of the running gags in part 3 weren't all that great. While we do get some new gags spoofing "Brokeback Mountain", "The Village", and "War of the Worlds", "Scary Movie 4" also extends the hapless kid who can't seem to not get hit by everything gag, replacing the little boy Cody from part 3, with a little blonde girl who becomes the new target of everything from lightning bolts to trash cans. "Scary Movie 4" uses a continuous spoof of "War of the Worlds" alien invasion as the centerpiece of it's story, spoofing other films along the way. The copycat tripods, and "Saw" guy who looks like Billy from the "Saw" movies, are another of the few likeable things about this movie, as they bare a really good resemblence to both of their predecessors. However in the end, despite some above average performances by most of the cast..."Scary Movie 4" falls very flat with lame attempts at humor and somewhat of a rushed script. I would he happy if the series stopped here, unless they plan on bringing the Wayans back to write and direct the fifth one.
Pros:Above average performances, Fake Billy from "Saw", and the "Saw" spoof with Shaq and Dr. Phil were pretty funny.
Cons:Preteenish humor which causes every joke and gag to miss the mark. The film also felt a bit rushed in some aspects.
Overall:Might want to wait for dvd with this one.