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Review: 'Scary Movie 4' Fun, But More Of Same
'War Of The Worlds,' 'Saw,' 'Grudge' Among Films Lampooned
UPDATED: 7:49 am CDT April 14, 2006
'Scary Movie 4' (PG-13) 
(out of four)They're baaaack!Cindy (Anna Faris) and Brenda (Regina Hall) have another scary adventure lampooning horror and sci-fi films in "Scary Movie 4."If you have seen the previous movies and laughed so hard the soda came out of your nose, then "Scary Movie 4" will leave you in tears again.This time, instead of wrapping the jokes inside a broadly drawn premise, "Scary Movie 4" takes four popular films from the last couple of years and mixes and matches them into one silly story with a heavy dose of bawdy sex jokes.Our clueless cutie, Cindy, is offered a job in a mysterious house to care for a catatonic invalid (Cloris Leachman). She knows something doesn't feel right and if she just opened the bathroom door she could see the temp agency manager's nasty fight with a white-faced little boy who has arisen from the murky waters.Living next door is Tom (Craig Bierko), a divorced father of two kids who hates his job as a dock worker. Tom and Cindy lock eyes and nothing else in the world matters --not even Cindy's gross pantomime of what she has to do for her patient or Tom's daughter getting hit repeatedly with lightning.Before you know it, aliens have exploded from the ground (you’ll just have to watch the movie to find out what form they take -- the cleverest part of the movie) and Cindy sets out on a search for the person who can help them get rid of the invaders. Grabbing Brenda from the wreckage of a plane, the two find a mysterious village where people seem to be permanently stuck in the past. Carmen Electra has never been funnier than she is in this film playing a blind woman who runs into poles and mistakes a town hall meeting for her bathroom.Many jokes hit the mark and many others fall a bit flat, but it isn't for want of trying. In the prologue, Shaquille O'Neal and Dr. Phil are caught in the "Saw" bathroom, shackled to the floor. In their desperation to escape, Shaq and Dr. Phil push each others' buttons with hilarious results, each having fun playing with the public's perceptions of themselves."Scary Movie 4" tries to pack too many movie spoofs into its less-than-90-minute running time. In addition to "The Village," "Saw," "War of the Worlds," and "The Grudge," it also takes aim at "Brokeback Mountain" and "Million Dollar Baby." It also can't resist a dig at Tom Cruise's Oprah show meltdown.With "Scary Movie 4," you pretty much know what you are getting into. With the first three movies we got into the habit of knowing exactly what kind of jokes are coming and even anticipating the beats of the action and the laughs. That hasn't changed in the fourth film and the familiarity blunts the spontaneous laughter that makes this kind of movie so much fun.But, who cares. If you want a hokey, raunchy romp that skewers all of the good and bad films of the past couple of years, "Scary Movie 4" with slay you.
(out of four)They're baaaack!Cindy (Anna Faris) and Brenda (Regina Hall) have another scary adventure lampooning horror and sci-fi films in "Scary Movie 4."If you have seen the previous movies and laughed so hard the soda came out of your nose, then "Scary Movie 4" will leave you in tears again.This time, instead of wrapping the jokes inside a broadly drawn premise, "Scary Movie 4" takes four popular films from the last couple of years and mixes and matches them into one silly story with a heavy dose of bawdy sex jokes.Our clueless cutie, Cindy, is offered a job in a mysterious house to care for a catatonic invalid (Cloris Leachman). She knows something doesn't feel right and if she just opened the bathroom door she could see the temp agency manager's nasty fight with a white-faced little boy who has arisen from the murky waters.Living next door is Tom (Craig Bierko), a divorced father of two kids who hates his job as a dock worker. Tom and Cindy lock eyes and nothing else in the world matters --not even Cindy's gross pantomime of what she has to do for her patient or Tom's daughter getting hit repeatedly with lightning.Before you know it, aliens have exploded from the ground (you’ll just have to watch the movie to find out what form they take -- the cleverest part of the movie) and Cindy sets out on a search for the person who can help them get rid of the invaders. Grabbing Brenda from the wreckage of a plane, the two find a mysterious village where people seem to be permanently stuck in the past. Carmen Electra has never been funnier than she is in this film playing a blind woman who runs into poles and mistakes a town hall meeting for her bathroom.Many jokes hit the mark and many others fall a bit flat, but it isn't for want of trying. In the prologue, Shaquille O'Neal and Dr. Phil are caught in the "Saw" bathroom, shackled to the floor. In their desperation to escape, Shaq and Dr. Phil push each others' buttons with hilarious results, each having fun playing with the public's perceptions of themselves."Scary Movie 4" tries to pack too many movie spoofs into its less-than-90-minute running time. In addition to "The Village," "Saw," "War of the Worlds," and "The Grudge," it also takes aim at "Brokeback Mountain" and "Million Dollar Baby." It also can't resist a dig at Tom Cruise's Oprah show meltdown.With "Scary Movie 4," you pretty much know what you are getting into. With the first three movies we got into the habit of knowing exactly what kind of jokes are coming and even anticipating the beats of the action and the laughs. That hasn't changed in the fourth film and the familiarity blunts the spontaneous laughter that makes this kind of movie so much fun.But, who cares. If you want a hokey, raunchy romp that skewers all of the good and bad films of the past couple of years, "Scary Movie 4" with slay you. Distributed by Internet Broadcasting. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
