Scary Movie 3 (2003)

Zucker, who's already experienced in making funny parody films such as 'Airplane' and 'Naked Gun', directs the third installment this time. Thankfully the Wayans brothers aren't in it to get on my nerves. 'Scary Movie 3' is a lot more enjoyable than its prequels. This one is not overloaded with vulgarity, sleaziness and toilet humour like the other two. Zucker actually manages to bring some class in this third film and there is quite a convincing plot that smartly combines Verbinski's 'The Ring' and Shyamalam's 'Signs'. My only complaint is that it's not funny enough. There were several sequences that could have been better done. Yet, the cast make it quite enjoyable. Leslie Nielsen is funny as the president but he does go a little too over the top at times. Anne Faris is back as Cindy, this time she adds some Naomi Watts to her character and does a commendable job. Charlie Sheen provides some laugh out loud moments, particularly in the scene with his wife Denise Richards. 'Scary Movie 3' is a much more enjoyable fair than the first two movies. This time I laughed at many of the scenes rather than feel sick (which was the case with 'Scary Movie 1' and 'Scary Movie 2').

Fmovies: I like movies. I like to talk about and think about movies. And I believe that nearly all movies are about other movies anyway. So when any movie comes along that is explicitly about movies, I'm in the ticketline. I really liked the first one because it referenced dozens and dozens of movies. The fact that they could be blended relatively seamlessly was part of the joke, but there was also the game of recognizing the source.

The second one was no improvement on the invention of the first. But this installment is a completely different beast. It is as different from the others as any in the 'Alien' is different from the others.

The Wayons are comics in the old-fashioned, standup sense. They make fun of life. When they poke fun at black stereotypes, they are poking fun at how things really are. So they have a big following in that community because their comments often 'ring true.' I really liked their work because it gave me double value for all that money I spend on bad movies.

But the Zuckers are film comedians, a wholly different species. When they poke fun, they are poking fun not at life, but at the movies. Its a completely different sort of humor. The opening, for instance. In previous films, the dumb blond jokes were about dumb people. In this one, the jokes are about characters and are particularly complicated. Pammy pokes fun at herself, especially herself in the famous porn video. And all is in the context of a tape that haunts.

Indeed, 'Ringu' was a movie about movies, and it forms the basis for this. Layered on that is '8 Mile,' a performance about a performance, here parodied by another layer of performance.

Sheen and Nielson are there to poke fun at their prior appearances, and their skits are as deliberately (I think) as flat as the white rapper's. To further the film-about-films idea, we have a parade of outside references: the Michael Jackson bit as a Scoopy Doo character is pretty prime stuff.

This kind of structure means that you have to make the targets deliberate. So instead of ratatat touching on over a hundred films, they focus on 3 or 4, so you know the score.

I laughed a few times. But I laughed more when scanning the web and being reminded of certain skits, like the wake, which is a minor masterpiece of editing. My only regret is that the Weinsteins decided to de-raunch the whole thing. I would have tolerated the few score childish jokes for the few really clever, cutting ones that would have made it through.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

I thought this one was rather funny, I liked it a tiny bit more than the first one (didn't see the 2nd), but that is probably because I saw all the movies they made fun of with the exception of "8 Mile". The problem is once again this movie isn't going to be very good if you haven't seen "The Ring" or "Signs" the two main ones they made fun of therefore it is not really a stand alone movie. You can miss "8 Mile" though as anything you saw in the previews of that one would be all you need. These "Scary Movies" and the last few parodies made really require you to see movies before you can enjoy. That just was not the case with movies like "Airplane" and "The Naked Gun", sure there were a few references that might of helped too if you saw the movie, but not a whole lot as it was stand alone funny. This movie mainly makes fun of "The Ring", there are some funny jokes here, but for my money the funniest stuff came at the expense of "Signs". The Ring probably made up 50 percent or more of the jokes with Signs at around 30 percent and "The Matrix Reloaded" and "8 Mile" making the remainder. There is one small joke that is Lord of the Rings related, but it isn't anything really funny. There was supposed to be something in it making fun of the Hulk, but I am pretty sure it was cut because I didn't notice anything. Which leads to another complaint, why the heck did they make the movie so short? This movie had to be an hour and twenty minutes max, you're telling me they couldn't find anything else to spoof? I really hate going to a movie that is under an hour and thirty minutes. Overall though it was an okay movie with some good laughs here and there.

Scary Movie 3 fmovies. First Aiplane and Naked Gun - now this!

You can see that it is a Zucker quality. Though I like the fist two movies, I must say this is the best one. This movie contains the least "potty- humor" and is sort of... classy.

Everybody in the cast does a great job, and I was really impressed by Charlie Sheen, but the star in the picture is of course Leslie Nielsen. He is a veteran and a master of comedy. He doesn't need to make funny faces or anything to be funny. He's just him.

I can honestly say, I didn't waste those 85 SEK for the ticket (85 SEK is about 11-12 US dollars).

A funny thing happened on the way to the movie theater tonight. The third installment of the Scary Movie series is not only PG-13, but is directed by comedy legend/genius David Zucker. Although he took over a series from the Wayans Brothers, Zucker turned it around into something almost completely new. It isn't quite in the same vein as his one true classic, Airplane!, but it shows how he should stay away from movies like My Boss's Daughter and go back into the spoof genre which got him, and his team, off the ground.

The first movie based its main parodies around Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer, and the second was mainly revolved around The Haunting. Scary Movie 3 has two central spoofs: The Ring and Signs. The protagonist from the first two, Cindy (Anna Faris), is now an anchorwoman who investigates a mysterious videotape while odd crop circles appear. Many celebrities have cameos in parodies of recent movies.

Instead of extremely crude sexual humor, Zucker knew that you don't need lewdness to make people laugh. One of the reasons why Airplane! was so great is because it was only rated PG; almost all of the humor was situational and not just shock value. Sure, Scary Movie 3 had its share of crude humor, but it wasn't as over-the-top and unnecessary as the other two's were. Instead, what he did was take his parodies and make them seem possible. For example, George Carlin plays The Architect (a parody of The Matrix Reloaded) who spends all of his time alone in a giant room. He gets so lonely, he `bonds' with his chair, what most people would do.

Also, what made Scary Movie 3 funny is how it pointed out the faults of the movies that it is spoofing. Throughout Signs, Mel Gibson doesn't even mention farming once, although he lives out on a farm. Charlie Sheen, who mocks the Gibson character, continuously talks about it for the first few minutes he's on screen. In 8 Mile, one of the things I hated about it was how everyone was speaking with huge words; here, parodies of those characters do exactly this.

Scary Movie 3 did have some gags that didn't work, especially around the middle of the film. It seems that Zucker just wanted to move as quickly as possible and instead of making it even 90 minutes (it's about 75) he just wanted to make a quick, short parody film. Although Carlin's character was okay, Eddie Griffin and Queen Latifah's characters (as characters from The Matrix) weren't utilized as much as they should have been. Also, Leslie Nielsen, who has been in most of the Zucker spoofs, has a small role as the President and plays a typical Nielsen character. I would have liked to have seen more of him, but at least he was able to deliver a classic Airplane! line.

Scary Movie 3 is one of the funniest movies of the year, with its almost continuous laughter. It's probably the best one out of the three in the series.

My rating: 7/10

Rated PG-13 for pervasive crude and sexual humor, language, comic violence and drug references.

Put the name "Wayans" on it and I walk out of the theater (if ambushed), or change the channel. The Wayans are a brand name in Hollywood that can greenlight anything they want, but the traffic laws should be rewritten to prevent this. Fortunately, none of the Ws returned for this film.

I did not see either of the first two films of this trilogy, but you really don't need to know the story to enjoy this film, since the plot of any good parody is just an excuse to deliver the maximum number of spoofs, gags, swipes, and one-liners by the end of the film. In that regard, this film does not disappoint.

Anna Faris (Cindy Campbell) is a surprisingly strong and exceptionally hot leading lady who should be considered for any A-list roles in the future. She did everything asked of her and then some, and the sky appears to be the limit for her talent. Cindy is a reporter for a Newscast that brings to life the song "Dirty Laundry" by Don Henley (she's the bubbleheaded bleached blond who comes on at 5:00 and tells you about the plane crash with a gleam in her eye). Charlie Sheen plays a former reverend who lost faith after his hot wife was killed in an accident (again, they even made that funny).

Anthony Anderson is excellent in his supporting role, while the rest of the cast could have been chosen by lottery, other than Leslie Neilsen, who seems to have a contract somewhere that says a parody can't be made without him (he plays the president in this one). George Carlin makes a creepy cameo, as does Eddie Griffin and Queen Latifah, but the stars of the movie are the jokes, and they come rapid-fire.

The film was designed for an intelligent audience in tune with pop culture, and doesn't take time to explain itself: Simon Cowell gets to judge an 8-mile style rap battle with predictable and hilarious results; Anderson's character sheds more light on the possible depths of the relationship between B. Rabbit and Future; Leslie Neilsen gets to deliver a classic line from "Airplane" at one point, while showing that he's kept up with the times in another. The newsroom was more realistic than most would admit or want to believe, and the way the horror was delivered in this film (yes, it's a genuine horror movie) was a "Scream." We even get a nod to Final Destination (one of the most original concepts of all time), and at times the movie even seems to parody itself.

If you liked "Airplane!" and its genre, there's little chance you won't like this film. If you can't stand that type of humor, get ready to tear your hair out. For better or worse, this film belongs in a time capsule to explain what a movie parody is and how it should be made.