Posted: 10/27/2003

Scary Movie 3

(2003)

by Josh Gloer

Zucker taking over for Wayans Bros. not necessarily a good thing.

Using disgusting jokes, toilet humor and spoofs of the year’s horror films, directors Shawn and Marlon Wayans had created a nearly flawless formula for their Scary Movie franchise delivering two disgusting if not hilarious films poking fun at one of Hollywood’s most popular genres. Unfortunately, when the young filmmaking duo handed the reigns over to spoof master David Zucker in what must have seemed like a safe move, the formula was lost, and in turn, so was this franchise’s sense of a good laugh.

In what would be a parody of countless Hollywood success stories, such as Signs, The Matrix, The Ring and The Others, Scary Movie 3 is the story of a young reporter (Anna Farris) who sets out to uncover the meaning of a video tape certain to cause death to all those who watch it. In her pursuits, she teams up with a young farmer/rapper named George (Simon Rex) who in addition to his rap battles and self esteem issues, has an alien species attempting to make contact through his corn field.

The pair, aided by an oracle (Queen Latifah), the president of the United States (Leslie Neilson) and George’s gangster hood crew led by Mahalik (Anthony Edwards), come to the realization that the tape is the imprint of a young girl’s vengeance and they must destroy her to stop the video tapes destructive pattern. As fate would have it, George learns that the aliens have come to earth for much the same purpose as they have witnessed the tape as well, and need to stop the girl to save their alien species. After an alliance between the races, they eventually kill the evil young girl as she is accidentally bumped by an opening door, and she falls into a well. George has found love in his new companion, and the two get married and decide to start a family.

Scary Movie 3 followed in the format of its two predecessors, but where the former managed to form a coherent story as they sewed pieces from many films together making an original comedic spoof, this third installment seemed to make much less effort as its plot lacked any hint of cleverness. Granted the toilet humor in the previous two films is far from intellectual, at least it is funny.

Where the film lacked in humor it did have plenty of cameos as everyone from the Coors Twins to Darrell Hammond made appearances taking the audience’s mind off the failing plot as they might wonder who would pop up next. Camryn Manheim, Denise Richards and George Carlin, mixed in with music moguls Ja Rule, Master P, Method Man & Redman and Macy Grey to name a few, made this film more of a who’s who in the B acting world than a comedy worth watching.

While this film only had a handful of laughs, it seems all the credit for humor should be granted to two of its established actors. Charlie Sheen, the frowning overly serious reverend who had lost his faith, delivered all of his few lines perfectly. His performance turned several scenes that might have otherwise been far from funny into the film’s highlights as he struggles to understand the situations he finds himself in. Jeremy Piven, also deserves recognition for salvaging this film from the “waste of time” pile. Piven, who plays a news anchor, receives very little screen times, but his appearance usually meant a break from the mundane and recycled Airplane! style jokes that infected the rest of the script.

While Zucker has created many comedic masterpieces, it seems that he may be past his prime as he delivers a flat and, in most cases, boring attempt at comedy. The movie, which was 90 minutes long, fails to raise more than a few smiles as the cast wades through the muck of predictable slapstick, jokes and spoof material. As this movie does have its moments, it is worth a shot, but don’t go expecting to see a Wayans Brothers’ style comedy.

Josh Gloer is one of our L.A. staffers. He is a screenwriter working his way up the Hollywood ladder.

Got a problem? E-mail us at filmmonthly@gmail.com