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Old 10-27-2003, 02:00 PM
James James is offline
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Scary Movie 3

I saw Scary movie 3, and even though there were some truly funny scenes I was a little dissapointed and missed the Wayan Brothers.

Here is a review that kind of summed it up:

http://www.bet.com/articles/0,1048,c...l#boardsAnchor

Scary Movie 3": Third Time's the Harm
By James Hill, BET.com Staff Writer

Posted Oct. 24, 2003 -- Watching "Scary Movie 3" is kind of like playing the lottery. If you watch long enough, the law of averages dictates that you'll laugh at least once. But, as the saying goes, you have to watch to win, and given the weak performance of "Scary Movie 2" and the overall morbidity of visual gag humor, you may feel like the odds are too stacked against you.

And you'd probably be right. Let's face it, "Blazing Saddles," perhaps the first in a long line of anything-goes comedy, is almost 30 years old. In 1980, we saw "Airplane" take the formula to box-office gold. Later, Leslie Nielsen milked the over-the-top humor through the late '80s and early '90s with three "Naked Gun" movies. However, it wasn't until the Wayans Brothers broke with the original "Scary Movie" did the fading genre find it's new legs. The Wayans, who displayed the same sense of humor in 1996's "Don't Be a Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood" and "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka," upped the gross-out factor a bit, focusing on bodily fluids and sex - a trick that worked once but failed to garner interest for the sequel.

So, Dimension Films knowing that they had a franchise on their hands, handed "Scary Movie 3" over to David Zucker, one-half of the team that created "Airplane!," "Top Secret" and "Naked Gun." This proved to be a smart move, considering a lot of us got sick of seeing all matters of snot and saliva flung around the screen for laughs. With subtle touches, Zucker manages to bring some wit back into the mix, while still depending heavily on physical comedy and sight gags.

While it's probably easier to simply tell which movies the parody spoofs than trying to explain the plot of "Scary Movie 3," I'll give it a try nonetheless. Anna Farris returns as Cindy, who is now a TV reporter who discovers a mysterious tape that kills people ("The Ring.") Meanwhile, Charlie Sheen plays Tom, a farmer and former man of the cloth who discovers crop circles outside his rural Washington, D.C. home ("Signs.") Throw in some references to "Lord of the Rings," the obligatory "Matrix" spoof and a little "8 Mile" and it becomes clear that, while the Wayans may have been hit or miss with the jokes, they were at least consistent when it came to genres to spoof. The thematic connection here is loose at best and the film plays like a collection of unrelated skits. Not that that's a huge issue since there are real laughs to be had, but "Scary Movie 3" makes you pine for the cohesive absurdity of "Sucka" or "Menace." Alas, not a Wayans is to be found here even though "Scary Movie" alum Regina Hall returns as the ghettofabulous Brenda.

Joining the cast is Anthony Anderson, newcomer Kevin Hart and former MTV VJ Simon Rex. These three make up the "8 Mile" subplot that has George (Rex) as a wannabe rapper. Anderson, wearing a jacked-up dreadlock wig, fills in for Mekhi Pfifer as Mahalik. While the issue of racial authenticity and hip-hop is ripe for parody, its already been done and with some of the same cast. Both Anderson and Hall look to be suffering from deja vu as they were just in a similar setup in "Malibu's Most Wanted." Not to mention, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog did a wonderful send-up in "8 Nipples." Likewise, the normally brilliant George Carlin gets upstaged in his take on "The Matrix Reloaded" architect scene by MTV's Movie Award's infinitely funnier spoof earlier this year (also available on the "Reloaded" DVD.)

The "Matrix" gets a further drumming when Queen Latifah shows up as the Oracle and Eddie Griffin as Orpheus. From watching the commercials, you come to think Latifah and Griffin have a lot of screen time, when in fact the clips we see of them in the trailers aren't even in the film. What is there is fine, as Latifah does a great job of nailing the Oracle's cadence and Griffin is basically reduced to two or three lines. Another great scene features Carmyn Manaheim as a policewoman trying to explain to Tom how his wife was injured in a traffic accident. The dim Tom needs visual aids and the two begin a back and forth conversation, including props, that grows funnier with each line.

Ultimately, no one actor or skit stands out here. There are far too many scenes, cameos and ground to cover for anyone or anything to grab the spotlight (everyone from Ja Rule to D.L. Hughley show up for at least a minute or two). For the film to work, it needed a relentless, ceaseless flood of jokes, some of which stick and some that slide off your back like water on duck's down. In the end, "Scary Movie 3" is a comedy pile-on with you at the bottom.
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