SCARY MOVIE 4

MOVIE REVIEW

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SCARY MOVIE 4 - 2006
USA Release: April 14, 2006
Brad Grey Pictures / Dimension Films
Rated: Australia: MA / Singapore: R / UK: 18 / USA: R

For Horror fans, the film begins in a familiar place.

For sports fans, the first person is a familiar face.

But the two are way incongruous with each other.

As you may or may not know from the trailers, U.S. Basketball star, Shaquille O'Neal (who, despite his Irish sounding name, has yet to be typecast as an Irishman), and Television Pop Psychiatrist, Phillip C. McGraw (Dr. Phil), find themselves trapped, a la SAW by the evil Jigsaw (who else? The evil Cartman?). How they get through their predicament is the best riff on the SAW movies that I've ever seen.

And so it goes with the rest of the film. Tom Ryan (Craig Berko: THE THIRTEENTH FLOOR) is a spoofin' Tom Cruise character from WAR OF THE WORLDS and then some. Like Cruise's Ray Ferrier from the original flick, Tom Ryan has marriage and child troubles, living as a divorcee in New York. His children, Rachel (Conchita Campbell: THE 4400 [TV]) and his son Robbie (Beau Mirchoff) are unceremoniously dropped off for the weekend by his ex. At the same time, he meets, so to speak, his new neighbor, SCARY MOVIE character, Cindy Campbell (Anna Farris: LOVER'S LANE, SCARY MOVIE, SCARY MOVIE 2, MAY, SCARY MOVIE 3). Cindy is new to the area and is starting a new job, where things aren't as they seem, a la THE GRUDGE - with a great cameo by Cloris Leachman (YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN). If only the original movies were this entertaining.

I can't tell you a whole lot about the film, which seamlessly unites wildly disparate movies, including Brokeback Mountain (not Horror but it had to be done), into a whole that is laugh out loud comedic and damn fun. To reveal anymore would probably revealing too much, and the trailer already ruined some of the best jokes.

Returning characters include, Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall: SCARY MOVIE, SCARY MOVIE 2, SCARY MOVIE 3),
George (Simon Rex: SHRIEK IF YOU KNOW WHAT I DID LAST FRIDAY THE THIRTEENTH, THE FORSAKEN, SCARY MOVIE 3),
Carmen Electra (AN AMERICAN VAMPIRE STORY, SCARY MOVIE),
Mahalik (Anthony Anderson: URBAN LEGENDS: FINAL CUT, SCARY MOVIE 3),
President Harris (Leslie Neilson: FORBIDDEN PLANET, DARK INTRUDER, THE POSEIDON ADVENTURE, DAY OF THE ANIMALS, PROM NIGHT, CREEPSHOW, THE CREATURE WASN'T NICE, REPOSSESSED, DRACULA: DEAD AND LOVING IT, SCARY MOVIE 3) who is better and knock out funnier this time around than he was in SCARY MOVIE 3,
Tom Logan (Charlie Sheen: THE WRAITH, GRIZZLEY II: THE PREDATOR, THE ARRIVAL, SCARY MOVIE 3), who mistakes his medication with oversized results,
~~Beverly Bruer~~ Beverley Breuer (THE DEAD ZONE, SAVAGE ISLAND, SCARY MOVIE 3, TRUTH, Master's Of Horror: HOMECOMING, SLITHER), and
Chris Elliott (MANHUNTER, SCARY MOVIE 2), who is one of the very few sour notes in the flick.

Chris can find the gross, but he can't find the funny in the SCARY MOVIE films. As he aptly displayed in movies ranging from Groundhog Day to There's Something About Mary, Chris does best at playing the goofy next door neighbor or co-worker, and sucks at playing the freak, the idiot, or the freaking idiot. Watching his performance in SCARY MOVIE 4 was emotionally painful, in that I felt sorry for him. Not a good thing.

Still!

Directed by David Zucker (SCARY MOVIE 3), one of three guys who invented this kind of comedy in the first place with Airplane!, and co-wrote by his long time partner and co-Airplane! creator, Jim Abrahams, and bringing back Craig Mazin from SCARY MOVIE 3, SCARY MOVIE 4 filled the theater with something I haven't heard in a long time with this franchise: wall to wall laughter. Even as much as I enjoyed the Wayans Bros. SCARY MOVIE, this is definitely the best of the bunch. It only slowed to a uncomfortable crawl when it tried to spoof THE VILLAGE. But look at what it had to work with!

I love this movie! SCARY MOVIE 4 is one of the best Horror spoofs ever! 4 Shriek Girls.