261 Day of Horror, Day 23: Scary Movie 3
Jan. 31st, 2007 06:33 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
yendiScary Movie 3. 2003. Directed by David Zucker. Written by Pat Proft and Craig Mazin. Released by Dimension.
Before I talk about Scary Movie 3, I need to talk about the first two movies.
Scary Movie was one of the first genuinely funny big-screen spoofs in years (probably the first since the era of Hot Shots! and Naked Gun ended). At the time it was released, the Wayans family had not become the most evil and hated family of writers, actors, and directors in America. In fact, other than Keenan's A Low Down Dirty Shame (which was not a good movie, but certainly not a horribly bad one, either), they really had no track record since In Living Color*.
And, amazingly, they managed to deliver a funny little movie. Picking Scream and the assorted post-Scream copycats as a target, Scary Movie skewered many of the cliches nicely, while tossing in some brilliant moments (Regina Hall's famous murder by an entire movie theatre's audience) and some cute running gags (the questionable sexuality of Shawn Wayans's character being the highlight). Everyone thought that the Wayans brothers might be a creative force.
Then Scary Movie 2 came along. Picking an even easier target (Jan de Bont's sucktastic remake of The Haunting**), and adding folks like Chris Elliot and Tim Curry to the cast seemed like a sure thing. Alas, other than an Exorcist-inspired prologue featuring Andy Richter, the movie relied on recycled jokes and missed too many opportunities. It was a sign of the creative bankruptcy the Wayans would experience in future years, as crap like White Chicks and Little Man proved that Hollywood really will greenlight anything.
Fortunately, the Wayans left the Scary Movie franchise after that disastrous second film, and Airplane! and Naked Gun director David Zucker was brought in to direct (with Police Academy/Real Genius writer Pat Proft, amongst others, working on the screenplay). With a script that set sights on The Ring, 8 Mile, and Signs as its primary targets, Scary Movie 3 resurrected this franchise, and remains a hell of a funny film.
Plot is a little less meaningful in this sort of movie, but here's where we start: Cindy Campbell (played, as always, but the immensely talented Anna Faris), having survived the first two movies, is now a journalist in Washington with a creepy and unlucky son. She's basically filling the Naomi Watts role from The Ring. Farmer Tom (played by Charlie Sheen) is worried that he has aliens in his cornfield, and fills the Mel Gibson role from Signs. His brother, George (Simon Rex), wants to be a rapper, and fills the Eminem role from 8 Mile (as well as the Joaquin Phoenix one from Signs).
I won't summarize everything that happens. Suffice to say that the individual storylines eventually merge (along with some major Matrix plot points) into a final confrontation between the heroes and an evil little girl.
Why does this movie succeed where Scary Movie 2 failed?
First, it doesn't limit itself to one target. We get three primary targets in Signs, 8 Mile, and The Ring, but we also get shots at tons of other properties, from The Others to Pootie Tang. More importantly (especially in light of films like Epic Movie), the assorted parodies flow together within the overarching story.
Plot wouldn't mean much if there weren't such an amazing amount of attention to detail. The parts of this movie parodying The Ring, for example, don't just include a spot-on take on the videotape's contents, but also plot elements (like the lighthouse) that could only be parodied by someone who had actually seen the movie. Likewise, the rap-off scene is incredibly faithful to the similar scene from 8 Mile (only with cameos by Fat Joe and Simon Cowell thrown in). And scenes featuring Sheen awakening to his daughters screams and talking to his dying wife could have been directed by M. Night Shyamalan (except that they're funnier).
Next, we have a cast that's both talented and used properly. George Carlin, as The Architect, strikes the perfect tone between his own goofiness and the self-importance of the later Matrix films. Charlie Sheen, so terribly unfunny on Two and a Half Men, is perfectly cast in a deadpan parody of Mel Gibson's grieving widow from Signs. Anthony Anderson (as Rex's enthusiastic sidekick) and Jeremy Piven (as a clueless news anchor) steal every moment of screen time they get. Queen Latifah and Eddie Griffen, as Aunt Shaneequa and Orpheus, help move both The Ring and The Matrix plotlines along with aplomb. And even newcomer Drew Mikusa, as eerily omniscient kid Cody, strikes a perfectly calm and creepy tone as he tells a pregnant lady, "It's a boy. He's going to be an asshole,"
Which takes us to the dialogue. We get the usual one liners ("I found their weakness! They're powerless without their heads!"), but we also get some great back-and-forth dialogue. Mahalik and CJ's ongoing argument about the differences between rats and mice almost borders on Whedonesque, or at least a parody thereof. There are few wasted lines of dialogue, and if not every joke is a winner, there are enough of them to keep things moving along.
And, as is the case with any Zucker film, there's the physical humor, a lost art in the day and age of Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider crotch jokes. Not that there aren't low blows here, but we get some wonderfully over-the-top moments involving Cody (a magnet for all sorts of trouble), some hysterical interactions with the fake Ring video, and a near-riot at a funeral when one character mistakenly attempts to resuscitate the corpse.
I've left most of the good jokes out of this review, both because they don't translate well to print, and because this movie is too funny to spoil completely. There's great dialogue, solid performances, some nifty cameos***, and enough jokes and references to justify repeated viewings. If you see this on DVD, be sure to watch the alternate ending, which, if not as good as the one actually used, adds another ten minutes of good content, including lots of Hulk and Matrix jokes. Fans of Airplane!, Hot Shots!, as well as horror movies in general, will get a kick out of it.
*Damon, who was not involved with the Scary Movie series, was the only one with a significant screenwriting track record at this point.
**Tagline: Some movies are just born bad.
***Including more rappers than I've seen in a long time. As well as Macy Gray, who doesn't stop the film cold like she did in Spider-Man****.
****I mean, seriously. I loved that movie, but could any scene have cried out, "Sony wants us to promote our artist" like that one did. No fucking way Norman Osborne doesn't bomb her first, in my script.
Before I talk about Scary Movie 3, I need to talk about the first two movies.
Scary Movie was one of the first genuinely funny big-screen spoofs in years (probably the first since the era of Hot Shots! and Naked Gun ended). At the time it was released, the Wayans family had not become the most evil and hated family of writers, actors, and directors in America. In fact, other than Keenan's A Low Down Dirty Shame (which was not a good movie, but certainly not a horribly bad one, either), they really had no track record since In Living Color*.
And, amazingly, they managed to deliver a funny little movie. Picking Scream and the assorted post-Scream copycats as a target, Scary Movie skewered many of the cliches nicely, while tossing in some brilliant moments (Regina Hall's famous murder by an entire movie theatre's audience) and some cute running gags (the questionable sexuality of Shawn Wayans's character being the highlight). Everyone thought that the Wayans brothers might be a creative force.
Then Scary Movie 2 came along. Picking an even easier target (Jan de Bont's sucktastic remake of The Haunting**), and adding folks like Chris Elliot and Tim Curry to the cast seemed like a sure thing. Alas, other than an Exorcist-inspired prologue featuring Andy Richter, the movie relied on recycled jokes and missed too many opportunities. It was a sign of the creative bankruptcy the Wayans would experience in future years, as crap like White Chicks and Little Man proved that Hollywood really will greenlight anything.
Fortunately, the Wayans left the Scary Movie franchise after that disastrous second film, and Airplane! and Naked Gun director David Zucker was brought in to direct (with Police Academy/Real Genius writer Pat Proft, amongst others, working on the screenplay). With a script that set sights on The Ring, 8 Mile, and Signs as its primary targets, Scary Movie 3 resurrected this franchise, and remains a hell of a funny film.
Plot is a little less meaningful in this sort of movie, but here's where we start: Cindy Campbell (played, as always, but the immensely talented Anna Faris), having survived the first two movies, is now a journalist in Washington with a creepy and unlucky son. She's basically filling the Naomi Watts role from The Ring. Farmer Tom (played by Charlie Sheen) is worried that he has aliens in his cornfield, and fills the Mel Gibson role from Signs. His brother, George (Simon Rex), wants to be a rapper, and fills the Eminem role from 8 Mile (as well as the Joaquin Phoenix one from Signs).
I won't summarize everything that happens. Suffice to say that the individual storylines eventually merge (along with some major Matrix plot points) into a final confrontation between the heroes and an evil little girl.
Why does this movie succeed where Scary Movie 2 failed?
First, it doesn't limit itself to one target. We get three primary targets in Signs, 8 Mile, and The Ring, but we also get shots at tons of other properties, from The Others to Pootie Tang. More importantly (especially in light of films like Epic Movie), the assorted parodies flow together within the overarching story.
Plot wouldn't mean much if there weren't such an amazing amount of attention to detail. The parts of this movie parodying The Ring, for example, don't just include a spot-on take on the videotape's contents, but also plot elements (like the lighthouse) that could only be parodied by someone who had actually seen the movie. Likewise, the rap-off scene is incredibly faithful to the similar scene from 8 Mile (only with cameos by Fat Joe and Simon Cowell thrown in). And scenes featuring Sheen awakening to his daughters screams and talking to his dying wife could have been directed by M. Night Shyamalan (except that they're funnier).
Next, we have a cast that's both talented and used properly. George Carlin, as The Architect, strikes the perfect tone between his own goofiness and the self-importance of the later Matrix films. Charlie Sheen, so terribly unfunny on Two and a Half Men, is perfectly cast in a deadpan parody of Mel Gibson's grieving widow from Signs. Anthony Anderson (as Rex's enthusiastic sidekick) and Jeremy Piven (as a clueless news anchor) steal every moment of screen time they get. Queen Latifah and Eddie Griffen, as Aunt Shaneequa and Orpheus, help move both The Ring and The Matrix plotlines along with aplomb. And even newcomer Drew Mikusa, as eerily omniscient kid Cody, strikes a perfectly calm and creepy tone as he tells a pregnant lady, "It's a boy. He's going to be an asshole,"
Which takes us to the dialogue. We get the usual one liners ("I found their weakness! They're powerless without their heads!"), but we also get some great back-and-forth dialogue. Mahalik and CJ's ongoing argument about the differences between rats and mice almost borders on Whedonesque, or at least a parody thereof. There are few wasted lines of dialogue, and if not every joke is a winner, there are enough of them to keep things moving along.
And, as is the case with any Zucker film, there's the physical humor, a lost art in the day and age of Adam Sandler and Rob Schneider crotch jokes. Not that there aren't low blows here, but we get some wonderfully over-the-top moments involving Cody (a magnet for all sorts of trouble), some hysterical interactions with the fake Ring video, and a near-riot at a funeral when one character mistakenly attempts to resuscitate the corpse.
I've left most of the good jokes out of this review, both because they don't translate well to print, and because this movie is too funny to spoil completely. There's great dialogue, solid performances, some nifty cameos***, and enough jokes and references to justify repeated viewings. If you see this on DVD, be sure to watch the alternate ending, which, if not as good as the one actually used, adds another ten minutes of good content, including lots of Hulk and Matrix jokes. Fans of Airplane!, Hot Shots!, as well as horror movies in general, will get a kick out of it.
*Damon, who was not involved with the Scary Movie series, was the only one with a significant screenwriting track record at this point.
**Tagline: Some movies are just born bad.
***Including more rappers than I've seen in a long time. As well as Macy Gray, who doesn't stop the film cold like she did in Spider-Man****.
****I mean, seriously. I loved that movie, but could any scene have cried out, "Sony wants us to promote our artist" like that one did. No fucking way Norman Osborne doesn't bomb her first, in my script.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
Wake Up Dead
Date: 2007-01-31 11:53 pm (UTC)Oh, man. It's all pretty great.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 12:21 am (UTC)But for my own benefit, the ones I'd be looking forward to this year would include elements of the following series: Creepshow, Phantasm, Hellraiser, maybe The Prophecy films (not explicitly horror, but possibly...)
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 12:26 am (UTC)"Before I talk about Scary Movie 3, I need to talk about the first two movies."
What about the fourth? Worth seeing, or a return to the dreck?
(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 12:38 am (UTC)The second was... Not nearly as fun or awesome.
The Monster under the Stairs segment of the original was fucking genius.
Re: Wake Up Dead
Date: 2007-02-01 01:10 am (UTC)All of the other ones you name are under serious consideration (I'm even thinking of a Hellraiser theme week).
Re: Wake Up Dead
Date: 2007-02-01 01:11 am (UTC)I still haven't made it to Scary Movie 4, but I've got higher hopes for it than I did for part 2.
Re: Wake Up Dead
Date: 2007-02-01 01:12 am (UTC)Re: Wake Up Dead
Date: 2007-02-01 01:33 am (UTC)The main plotline involves vampires, with a Lovecraftian subplot; but there are nods to Hellraiser, Phantasm, and others thrown in.
I still haven't made it to Scary Movie 4, but I've got higher hopes for it than I did for part 2.
I haven't taken a chance on it yet because I haven't heard where it ranks on the Scary Movie quality scale.
Re: Wake Up Dead
Date: 2007-02-01 01:38 am (UTC)Re: Wake Up Dead
Date: 2007-02-01 01:42 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-02-01 01:50 am (UTC)