There's something different about the third installment in the Scary Movie series - it's not funny. It could be the new direction, new writers or the fact that the Wayans brothers were nowhere in sight. Whatever it was, it'd be pointless to go watch “Scary Movie 3" if you had any hope that it replicates the laughs of the previous installments. For one thing, it was the lewdness and no-limits style of humor that made the first two so much fun. Scary Movie 3 serves up a more subtle brand of that humor and was nowhere as outrageous or shocking. For those who've seen better, this was a little too-watered down, too tame and generally lame.
Anna Faris returns as a blonde Cindy Campbell, this time, an anchorperson in a literally sex-saturated TV network (oh, the satire!). Fusing the plot lines of movies like "Signs," "The Ring" and "8 Mile," Cindy finds herself the victim of a killer videotape while investigating crop circles on a minister's farm. The minister's brother is a clueless white rapper-wannabe (Simon Rex). I don't know how "8 Mile" fit in as a scary movie, but it was clearly out of place - the segment where the redneck rapper faces off rapstar Fat Joe in an arena full of pistol-packing "homies" was a fine satirical look at the violence of hip-hop culture, but felt disjointed from the rest of the movie. "The Matrix: Reloaded," "The Others" and "American Idol," among a few others are spoofed here with an equal amount of hits and misses. I loved Simon Cowell's cameo, but his lines could definitely have been more brutal to lampoon his TV persona. Something is amiss if they didn't parody some element of the "Matrix" series, but placing Cindy in the room filled with wall-to-wall self-reflecting monitors was too predictable - and predictability is NOT FUNNY.
There are a few moments where Scary Movie 3 did make me laugh. In spoofing the scene from "The Others" where a young girl, garbed in a bridal veil, plays with dolls, who should pop out from underneath the veil but Michael Jackson in his freakish mask-like makeup. Seeing this Michael Jackson impersonator flailing across the room in some of Michael's best dance moves was a highlight, for sure. Although no laughing matter in our society, the small scene that hints at a priest's pedophilic inclinations is a subtle poke at one of today's social issues. It shows that the series can still make fun of taboos, even if just a little.
The PG-13 rating for "Scary Movie 3" suggests "Scary Movie Lite" - less sexual innuendo, less gross-out humour, but lots of comic physical violence. The most apparent flaw here is the over-use pf physical gags, which are pervasive through out the movie. Every five minutes, someone is walking into something, getting bludgeoned, or getting involved in some sort of melee. It seems that when a scene isn't going anywhere, it'll end in a pointless display of violence. The new rating did pull in its intended audience though - the theater was filled with hooky-playing 'tweens in hysterics over the onscreen antics.
“Scary Movie 3" feels a little overplayed and not as funny or provocative as the original. You’d think new writers and a new directors would give the series something fresh, but those expectations were not met. The Wayans brothers were sorely missed in this one. “Scary Movie 3” did have some fun moments, but relied on comic violence too much and felt monotonous after half an hour. Still, I’d probably go see the next installment just to see what and who they spoof.
The Scary Movie gang is back for the third installment in this spoof series, but they are no longer content to stick to the horror genre...More at eCOST.com
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