SCARY MOVIE 4

By: Rachel Reitsleff
Review Date: Friday, April 14, 2006

There's so much cruddy sketch parody around today that it's easy to forget that sometimes it rises to an art form. While not many people are going to consider any part of the SCARY MOVIE franchise as art, director/writer David Zucker and writer Jim Abrahams, who were two-thirds of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker squad that brought us AIRPLANE!, TOP SECRET! And THE NAKED GUN, not to mention the insanely silly and funny mid-'70s KENTUCKY FRIED MOVIE (directed by John Landis), have brought their familiar and welcome lunatic touch to horror parody.

Zucker and Abrahams also toiled on SCARY MOVIE 3 in 2003. This time, the main topics of spoof include SAW, THE GRUDGE and WAR OF THE WORLDS, with a little detour into THE VILLAGE and riffs on Dr. Phil McGraw and Shaquille O'Neal (both of them good sports who are in on the joke), MILLION DOLLAR BABY, BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN and Tom Cruise on OPRAH, to name a few of the more memorable riffs.

Zucker and Abrahams, along with frequent writer partner Pat Proft and Craig Mazin, who is given story credit here (even though the first two SCARY MOVIEs were concocted by Shawn and Marlon Wayans), base their jokes primarily on oblivious klutziness, incongruity and bodily functions. A little in this last category goes a long way for some of us, but some of the gags are truly funny, including appearances by Bill Pullman (who appears to be perpetually on the edge of laughing, which elsewhere would be mood-breaking, but here just adds to the environment), Charlie Sheen and an uncredited turn by a guest star who is sending up something he performed with dead seriousness last year (you can't miss it).

Anna Faris does wide-eyed innocence perfectly and Regina Hall has good timing as an unflappably cheerful sexual enthusiast; both women are veterans of the previous SCARY entries. Conchita Campbell deserves special mention in the Dakota Fanning role, playing a youngster who is trying to keep a lid on her exasperation with adult cool and Leslie Nielsen is back as the U.S. President.

The comedy here is hit and miss. When it misses, it reminds us that unfunny comedy is uniquely hard to watch. When it hits, however, it reminds us of the joys of Mad Magazine, gonzo and proud of it.