Scary Movie 3 Review

Jakanden · 29-Oct-03, 04:05 PM

By Jay Smith

Back in 2000 a surprise hit came out of nowhere and successfully spoofed horror movies such as "Scream" and "I know what you did last summer". The third installment of this trilogy comes off as anything but funny however.

Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris of "Scary Movie", and "Lost in Translation") is now working as an anchorwoman for the local news station. She wants to investigate the mysterious appearance of crop circles in ex-minister Tom Logan's (Charlie Sheen) farm and sets off to do so even when instructed not to by her boss. In a seemingly unrelated incident, Cindy's best friend Regina (Brenda Hall) is the latest victim of a videotape that kills anyone who watches it after 7 days. During the course of the investigation Cindy falls for Tom Logan's wanna-be rapper brother George (Simon Rex of "The Forsaken"), seeks the advice of Oracle Aunt Shaneequa (Queen Latifah), finds out she is The One in a meeting with The Architect and helps the President (Leslie Nielson) battle against invading aliens. It seems that David Zucker has managed to create a film with even less of a plot then his previous spoof endeavors such as Airplane and High School High.

Being the first PG-13 movie in the trilogy, the overall tone has been changed from raunchy and sex-related jokes (Which amazingly worked in the first film) to almost complete slapstick comedy. I can see why the change was made considering PG-13 movies have the largest demographic and tend to make the largest profits. However, for this particular series, it seems to be too much of a change. Without the Wayans Brothers, this just is not one of the "Scary Movies". One thing that hasn't changed however, are the obvious movie spoofs from movies like 8-Mile, The Others, Matrix Reloaded, The Ring, and Signs. It also still contains numerous cameos which consequently, happen to be some of the only funny parts of the movie.

Charlie Sheen, who is no stranger to this genre, was completely wasted as Tom Logan. He has shown that he can do great in spoofs (Hot Shots), but his character was the most boring and least utilized in the movie. Much more attention was given to Simon Rex as his bumbling brother who, while doing a great job with what he was given, should not have been focused on as much as he was. Anna Faris was also pitifully wasted in this film. Her character was even ditzier than previously and had very few funny (If any) lines or scenes. The real star of the movie was Anthony Anderson as Mahalik, George's dreadlocked gangsta friend. In the few scenes he had, he absolutely stole the movie. However, as great as he was, he alone could not save this wasted piece.

All in all, there are some very funny scenes in the movie (Such as the meeting with The Architect and Michael Jackson), but to get to them you will have to sit through a non-existent plot, horrific acting, and terrible slap-stick comedy. If you absolutely must see this movie, wait for it to come out on video.

1 out of 4 stars

Julius · 29-Oct-03, 06:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jakanden

By Jay Smith

Back in 2000 a surprise hit came out of nowhere and successfully spoofed horror movies such as "Scream" and "I know what you did last summer". The third installment of this trilogy comes off as anything but funny however.

Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris of "Scary Movie", and "Lost in Translation") is now working as an anchorwoman for the local news station. She wants to investigate the mysterious appearance of crop circles in ex-minister Tom Logan's (Charlie Sheen) farm and sets off to do so even when instructed not to by her boss. In a seemingly unrelated incident, Cindy's best friend Regina (Brenda Hall) is the latest victim of a videotape that kills anyone who watches it after 7 days. During the course of the investigation Cindy falls for Tom Logan's wanna-be rapper brother George (Simon Rex of "The Forsaken"), seeks the advice of Oracle Aunt Shaneequa (Queen Latifah), finds out she is The One in a meeting with The Architect and helps the President (Leslie Nielson) battle against invading aliens. It seems that David Zucker has managed to create a film with even less of a plot then his previous spoof endeavors such as Airplane and High School High.

Being the first PG-13 movie in the trilogy, the overall tone has been changed from raunchy and sex-related jokes (Which amazingly worked in the first film) to almost complete slapstick comedy. I can see why the change was made considering PG-13 movies have the largest demographic and tend to make the largest profits. However, for this particular series, it seems to be too much of a change. Without the Wayans Brothers, this just is not one of the "Scary Movies". One thing that hasn't changed however, are the obvious movie spoofs from movies like 8-Mile, The Others, Matrix Reloaded, The Ring, and Signs. It also still contains numerous cameos which consequently, happen to be some of the only funny parts of the movie.

Charlie Sheen, who is no stranger to this genre, was completely wasted as Tom Logan. He has shown that he can do great in spoofs (Hot Shots), but his character was the most boring and least utilized in the movie. Much more attention was given to Simon Rex as his bumbling brother who, while doing a great job with what he was given, should not have been focused on as much as he was. Anna Faris was also pitifully wasted in this film. Her character was even ditzier than previously and had very few funny (If any) lines or scenes. The real star of the movie was Anthony Anderson as Mahalik, George's dreadlocked gangsta friend. In the few scenes he had, he absolutely stole the movie. However, as great as he was, he alone could not save this wasted piece.

All in all, there are some very funny scenes in the movie (Such as the meeting with The Architect and Michael Jackson), but to get to them you will have to sit through a non-existent plot, horrific acting, and terrible slap-stick comedy. If you absolutely must see this movie, wait for it to come out on video.

1 out of 4 stars

i assumed this much, its worth a few chuckles but not much more i guess, like the previous two...ah well, the president part looks funny

Tear · 29-Oct-03, 08:25 PM

I Agree. Not nearly as good as the previous.

nate · 30-Oct-03, 02:31 AM

imho, i thought 1 and 2 sucked really bad.

atsharrock · 30-Oct-03, 06:13 AM

i thoguht they were funny, this one doesnt have the wayans brothers in though which i was gutted about.

Tear · 30-Oct-03, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nate

imho, i thought 1 and 2 sucked really bad.

Well who asked you

Tear · 30-Oct-03, 07:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by atsharrock

i thoguht they were funny, this one doesnt have the wayans brothers in though which i was gutted about.

Seriously, what were they thinking?

ricohelms · 30-Oct-03, 11:53 AM

Thanks for the review Jak.

By the way, I saw Texas Chainsaw. Scary but stupid. I wanted to leave but the wife made me stay and watch the rest. The last 30 seconds of the movie was the best part. CAUSE IT WAS ALMOST OVER BY THEN!!!!

Jakanden · 30-Oct-03, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricohelms

Thanks for the review Jak.

By the way, I saw Texas Chainsaw. Scary but stupid. I wanted to leave but the wife made me stay and watch the rest. The last 30 seconds of the movie was the best part. CAUSE IT WAS ALMOST OVER BY THEN!!!!

No problem - thanks for allowing me to get back into the groove of doing reviews again. You guys are my practice audience before i start posting them to my old movie sites =)