Scary Movie 4

I went into this film a little hesitantly...How can there possibly be a fourth Scary Movie that still keeps its humour? Well, it was (half) possible. Although the overall structure isn't as tight as the other three, the jokes are often still 'fresh' and there's a lot of slapstick, which, although predictable, is still funny! Anna Faris (Cindi), as always, is still on top form, as is Regina Hall (Brenda) and together, they deliver some fantastic comedy.

If you're looking for a new, original comedy, perhaps this isn't for you. However, if you're a fan of Scary Movie 1, 2 and 3, then how could you boycott this one?! Go for it, even if it's only 80 minutes for a laff and a haff!

Some movies are like a halfway filled gas tank. The part of tank that has the gas keeps the car rolling, but the empty part doesn't help the car move at all.

Such is the instance with Scary Movie 4. The first half of the film is completely void of laughs and relies on the been-there-done-that slapstick/goofy violence you'd expect to see on a re-run of a Three Stooges episode on PBS. However, the second half of the movie has quite a few laughs and had enough energy to keep me interested in the movie, but the movie needed a refill for the last few minutes, as it runs out of gas before it reaches the finish line.

This time around the plots of recent movies such as War of the Worlds, The Grudge, Million Dollar Baby, Saw, The Village, and quite a few others are intertwined to form a smudge of a comedic plot. Why explain it? Trying to compress the plot into a tiny paragraph is like trying to squash a block of cement in a vice. It just can't be done.

I don't know why Scary Movie 4 has to keep on recycling the same slap stick jokes that have been in the previous movie. The only laughs in this film come from spoken one-liners. It's as if they had no other funny dialogue to come up with, and added fart and ball jokes instead that reminded me of the previous bomb this year, Date Movie. Another problem Scary Movie 4 seems to have is a lack of knowledge of when to stop. There are many laughs, but many of the same jokes are played on for such a long time and are repeated that you feel ashamed that you laughed at them when they started. It doesn't know when to quit.

What keeps the movie alive the most is, like in Scary Movie 3, Leslie Nielsen playing the President of the United States. He again shows us how much he is needed for these kinds of movies, and there is a very funny scene in which he doesn't know what to say during a speech to the United Nations.

If you liked Scary Movie 3, most likely you'll like Scary Movie 4. I don't think anyone who found many recycled jokes in Scary Movie 3 will find anything fresh here. After all, do the movies Scary Movie 4 spoofs have much originality, even when played seriously?

The unemployed Cindy Campbell (Anna Farris) is hired to work in a cursed house as caretaker of an old lady and meets the ghost of a boy. Meanwhile, the teenager son Robbie and the young daughter Rachel of his next door neighbor and crane operator Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko) are spending the weekend with their loser father. Cindy and Tom meet and fall in love for each other, but when Giant Tripods invade Earth, Tom escapes with Robbie and Rachel; Cindy travels to a village, trying to find the answer to a riddle to save the world; and the president of USA organizes the defense of the planet in UN under his intelligence and leadership.

As I have previously wrote, parody movies are always of the type 'love or hate' it. I am not intellectual, I love cinema as culture, but also as entertainment, so I like this genre. Further, when I see this type of movie, I know exactly what I am going to see: scatological jokes, funny and surrealistic references to other films and definitely a movie that will never be indicated for an Oscar.

I found this "Scary Movie 4" also very funny. The screenplay is a big joke with the remake of "War of the Worlds", entwined with "The Grudge" and "The Village". It also satirizes "Saw" and "Saw 2", "Brokeback Mountain" and "Million Dollar Baby". There are also references to the American pop culture that I unfortunately have not understood, like for example Dr. Phil, the Oprah talk show in the end (see Obs.) or Bruce the Bed King. Leslie Nielsen is hilarious in the role of the smart president.

This is the type of movie that you must shut down your brain and start laughing. What I do not understand and really irritates me are the reviews of persons that should never watch this type of movie. What do they expect to see when they go to the movie theaters or buy / rent a DVD called "Scary Movie 4" ("the last part of a trilogy"), directed by David Zucker and with Leslie Nielsen and Anna Farris in the cast? An art movie, with hidden messages, an epic, a classic or a film with politically correct jokes? Honestly, if I did not like this genre, I would never spend my time watching it. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): 'Todo Mundo em Pânico 4' ('Everybody in Panic 4')

Obs: My son has just forwarded "Tom Cruise Freakin Out On Oprah" in Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M08PfuP_NXs

It was rather funny, as to be expected the jokes were hit and miss with there being more hits than misses for me. I thought once again it could have been funnier and there were some unnecessary jokes, but all in all it was a rather funny flick. This one actually plays like a sequel as characters from the previous flick are explained why they aren't here rather than just being ignored all together. For this one the required viewing or basic knowledge of a movie that you need for this one is mainly "Saw", "The Grudge", "The Village", "Million Dollar Baby", and for me the best one "War of the Worlds" (a movie that needed some fun poked at it). There is also something in there making a bit of fun of a movie pretty much you don't need to have seen are know all that much about...you will get it as long as you watch a bit of television. The "War of the Worlds" to me seems to be the main film parodied, however the other films get their fair share of the jokes as well. The opening is rather funny with Shaq and Dr. Phil doing a "Saw" recreation and there are other celebrities who make short visits as well however it is still the same group who forms the core of the cast. Worth a look see, however, if you did not care for "Scary Movie 3" I would say you probably won't like this one.

Scary Movie 4. Is it an example of good film-making? No. Will future film students study this movie and its revolutionary techniques? No. Could I have written this script in half an hour while stoned? Yes. Can I remember the last time I laughed this hard? No.

The key to enjoying a Scary Movie is to see it as a series of sketches based on popular movies, rather than a stand-alone film. The spoofs are extremely obvious and require as little thought to understand as it must have taken to write them. But as far as juvenile humour and crude visual jokes go, David Zucker does it right. You might question Zucker's actual skills as a director, but I dare you to call any of his movies unfunny.

Another reviewer mentioned that he missed the Wayans' style of comedy and brought up the scene where a blind Carmen Electra mistakes a church seat for a toilet as one of the funny scenes. Funny how I thought that was the only scene in the entire movie where the comedy fell on its face. The Wayans' relied far too much on lame sexual humour and gross-out jokes and I enjoy slapstick far more than that.

Not that Scary Movie 4 doesn't have its fair share of (hilarious) crude jokes. I won't spoil all the fun for you, so I'll just mention my favourite: Charlie Sheen, haunted by his past, tries to commit suicide, unfortunately the sleeping pills he swallowed turn out to be Viagra. That's the level of the humour in this movie, and if you are entertained by violent slapstick, people getting hit by cars, sexual jokes, and brilliant dialogue such as:

"I saw this face..."

"With a nose?"

"Yes."

"Hmm. Sounds like a face."

...then this movie is worth buying a ticket for. But if you can't stand lowbrow, dirty, and obvious comedy, you better stay away. Personally I thought 4 was the funniest in the entire series, after #3. If a movie can make me laugh for an hour and 22 minutes, I can't hate it. While Scary Movie 4 definitely isn't a "good" movie, it's hard to put down comedy this funny. Craig Bierko does a very good Tom Cruise impression, as well. If you liked the other movies, especially 3, this is a must see.

Dirty, juvenile comedy is rarely this funny. Strongly recommended if you're in the mood.(r#16)