Scary
Movie 4 is the fourth in a franchise created by the Wayans Brothers, and the second
of the series to be directed by David Zucker. For those of you who aren’t
in the know, Mr. Zucker is part of the team responsible for Airplane, Top Secret,
and the Naked Gun flicks – high energy send-ups that essentially inspired
the Wayans brothers to make the original Scary Movie in the first place. So is
the fourth entry funny? Well, I wouldn’t rank it among Zucker’s very
best, but I laughed heartily throughout the film.
Scary
Movie 4 is yet another parody of other movies, but it has a pace, and energy that
raise it far above the likes of the recent Date Movie. While horror films are
it’s primary target, Scary Movie 4 takes swipes at other genres as well.
Some are tired (seriously folks, the Brokeback Mountain jokes have gone too far)
but others are quite clever (one of my favorite gags in the film is a riff on
War of the Worlds – watch for the bit in which a pack of Tripods march through
a virtually destroyed Detroit City).
Holding
the laugh-fest together is the further evolving comedic talents of the hilarious
(and cute) Anna Farris. Her comic timing is veteran sharp, and she also brings
a likable quality to the clueless but lovable Cindy Campbell. Craig Bierko (Cinderella
Man) takes on the male lead, a sort of Tom Cruise type who has the daunting task
of saving the world and getting the girl. Truth be told, Bierko pretty much plays
it straight (save for the big Oprah Winfrey Show ending), and while he doesn’t
particularly do anything memorable here, it doesn’t matter because Scary
Movie 4 isn’t about him. It’s about the funny. While we’re on the
topic of funny, Zucker film veteran Leslie Nielsen provides the picture with some
of the biggest laughs. Seriously, the nude scene alone warrants some kind of an
honorary Oscar.
Scary
Movie 4 moves at lightening speed and clocks in at just under ninety minutes,
but it makes the most of it’s short running time. In addition to pokes at
Brokeback Mountain and War of the Worlds, we get big time winks at Saw, The Grudge,
The Village, Million Dollar Baby and countless other films.
Scary
Movie 4 is hardly perfect comedy. It does have several moments that don’t
work, but the film is jam packed with so many funny gags that the good ones outweigh
the bad. The film tends to be crude, but not to the extent of the first two Scary
Movies and in fact, Part 4 is far more tame than Date Movie. My biggest issue
with the movie are the special effects. Some of the visuals are actually too good
(particularly during the War of the Worlds sequences). I think the proceedings
might have been more amusing had the effects been a little cheesier. As it stands,
the tripod sequences are nearly as impressive as the ones in Spielberg’s
film.
I had a
fun time during Scary Movie 4. Perhaps it was the Sapporo I was drinking while
I watched it or maybe I just happened to be in a good mood that night. Whatever
the case might have been, I was laughing consistently and you can’t ask for
anything more than that during a Scary Movie.
