Year of Release: 2006
Director: David Zucker
Starring: Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Leslie Nielsen, Bill Pullman, Anthony Anderson, Molly Shannon, Kevin Hart, Carmen Electra, Chris Elliott, Cloris Leachman, Beau Mirchoff, Conchita Campbell, Michael Madsen, Simon Rex, DeRay Davis, John Reardon, Charlie Sheen, James Earl Jones
Genre: Comedy
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
Watch it on Amazon
Synopsis and Review:
Following the success of "Scary Movie 3", director David Zucker, alongside his team comprised of writers Jim Abrahams, Pat Proft and Craig Mazin, tackled a new chapter in the series. This time around Cindy Campbell finds herself a widower, and looking for a new job (George, her deceased husband died as a result of her boxing activities). Just as Cindy finds a new occupation as a caregiver to the elderly, the house in which she lives and provides help to a patient, seems to be plagued by restless spirits. On top of these unsettling development, an alien invasion threatens to destroy the planet, sending Cindy on a quest to discover someone who can solve the ghostly presences and stop the invasion. Along the way she picks up Brenda, now a news reporter, to go with her in this quest. Her recent love interest, Tom Ryan, has to contend with protecting his kids from the alien invaders, as he goes from New Jersey to safer areas. As Cindy and Brenda reach a seemingly isolated village, the solutions to their quest may be nearby.
"Scary Movie 4" continues the spoofing path from the previous chapter, while not reaching the heights of lunacy and hilarity that the same chapter was able to portray (toying with the conventions of "The Ring" and "The Matrix" were spot on). This chapter focuses on spoofing a new series of films, including "War of the Worlds", "The Village", "Saw" and "The Grudge", somehow making all of these co-exist in the same narrative. What has always been so effective about the ZAZ team and their films, including the celebrated "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun", is the fact they mine other films references, and twist their sense of seriousness, exposing the ridiculousness that lies in some of the conventions at their core. Their best films don't necessarily spoof others, as much as it uses them as jumping points to establish their narrative and brand of humor. The problem with spoof films lies with the fact they're unable to craft a sensical narrative, since they're more focused in poking fun at all the films they're referencing. David Zucker, as talented as he has always been, tries to anchor the storylines of the Scary Movie franchise on Cindy, since she is the heroine, around whom everything seems to occur. However in this 4th chapter, there's definitely less of a focal point to her journey, and the integration between some of the plot threads just aren't as effective. The cast is always uniformly game for the adventures taking place, with the hilarious Anna Faris leading an array of talented actors, including Regina Hall, Bill Pullman, Leslie Nielsen and Cloris Leachman. While not as hilarious as the previous chapter, it is nonetheless harmless fun worth watching.
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