Scary Movie 4: Movie & DVD Review

(Originally published 2006)

The latest foray in the "Scary Movie" franchise, "Scary Movie 4," is splintered piffle that goes nowhere. It starts off on a bad foot--literally--and then hobbles toward an ending that suggests the series hasn't just run its course, it's exhausted it. Laughs are not entirely absent here, but old ideas and laziness plague it, cutting it down from the high perch its brand once enjoyed.

This time out, what's scary is how boring and unimaginative the series has become.

The strength of the series always has been in its opening riff on the latest horror movie craze, which in this case means the sadomasochistic bloodletting of such films as "Saw," "Saw II" and "Hostel." While the two previous "Scary" sequels were uneven at best, at least they delivered the goods at the start. "Scary Movie 4" doesn't, and that's a disappointment.

It begins with a takeoff on the "Saw" movies," with Dr. Phil and Shaquille O'Neal playing themselves in ways that will benefit neither of their careers.

In a moldering men's room that will be familiar to horror fans, they are chained at the ankles thanks to the handiwork of the serial killer, Jigsaw. Before poisonous gas consumes them, the only way out of their unhappy situation appears to be by sawing off the lower half of their legs.

What ensues isn't the spoof you expect, but a movie that confuses reference for wit, as if our recognition of what is being lampooned is enough. It isn't. The film, which also churns elements of "The Village," Spielberg's "War of the Worlds," "Brokeback Mountain," "The Grudge" and "Million Dollar Baby" into its plot, is filled with the sort of lame pratfalls in which people repeatedly are slapped, punched, knocked down, or knocked out. It's as if a third-rate opening act for The Three Stooges are running the show--from the grave--and we're the ones left with pie in our face.

What's curious about "Scary Movie 4" is that it missed its broad target--right now, pop culture is a candy store ripe for skewering. Having a Michael Jackson impersonator show up and pander to children isn't clever or funny--it's just anemic, like the man's career. As for Tom Cruise, a version of whom is played here by Craig Bierko, the whipping he gets by Zucker might as well be by a feather; it's timid, toothless fluff.

Watching the film, some might long for comic genius of Mel Brooks or Mel Blanc, or wish that Zucker had recaptured the zaniness of his comic greats, "Airplane!" and "Naked Gun." In one scene involving Leslie Nielsen, he does come close. But coming close for Zucker can only ever be a letdown. When you're as gifted as he is, it feels like a cheat.

Grade: D+