From my opinion, it's very easy where to point the finger of blame. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have been responsible for some of the worst pieces of cinema in the past decade - Date Movie, Epic Movie and Disaster Movie to name but a few. It also doesn't really help that David Zucker has been riding on the coattails of Airplane and the Naked Gun films since to 1980s as proof that he is a good comedy director.
Onto Scary MoVie, and the film has somewhat of a plot stringed together. It follows Jody Sanders (Ashley Tisdale) and Dan (Simon Rex) who inherit Charlie Sheen's (playing himself) children after he dies. When they bring the children home, they start to experience strange paranormal activity happening around their home and so call in the help of Blaine Fulda (Katt Williams) to rid them of the spirit, known as Mama by their children. Along the way, Jody is aided by her ballet partner, Kendra (Erica Ash) in order to find the root of the curse and stop the haunting of Mama.
The biggest problem with Scary MoVie is that it feels strung together with dodgy editing, too much ADR (additional dialogue recording - when they redub someone's voice over the original footage that was filmed) and spoofs/scenes that have little point other than to poke fun at popular culture and films. It's not surprising to know that the film was going through major reshoots as late as January/February this year, to make the film 'more relevant'. It just felt like a film that was what the film studio wanted (with more 'up-to-date references such as Evil Dead - which consisted of one scene - and Mama which made up about 90% of the plot, including the ending) rather than what the filmmakers intended on making to begin with.
Along with the rushed and mixed up film, Scary MoVie had some of the worst acting and delivery of jokes that I have seen in a long time. I know this kind of film isn't out to win any Oscars or BAFTAs, but that doesn't mean that the actors can't at least try. Simon Rex just seemed like he was in it for the money - his goofy, stupid facial expressions can only get him so far before his character becomes annoying and boring. Erica Ash hardly even tries to be the next Brenda, because she knows that the bar was set so high by Regina Hall in the previous Scary Movies. Finally, while Ashley Tisdale does feel like the only person actually trying in her role, the jokes she is given as just painful and her delivery of the lines just fall rather flat. Basically, without the key players of Regina Hall as Brenda Meeks and Anna Faris as Cindy Campbell, Scary MoVie just feels like a cash-in attempt on a once great franchise.
Another problem with the Scary MoVie and Friedberg/Seltzer school of comedy is that quite a few of the jokes rarely translate well outside of the USA. Scary MoVie features jokes and jabs at popular culture such as Honey Boo Boo and the Housewives from Mob Wives, such as Big Ang. Lost? Well, I'd be surprised if you aren't, because this is an example of Scary MoVie taking the easy way out with it's comedy. A good joke well written can translate well across the globe, but the lazy writing and rush job filming of Scary MoVie means that the filmmakers have relied on audience knowledge of films/TV shows. Some of the visual comedy falls flat too. Take the Evil Dead parody for instance, a character cuts her tongue in two because well, that's what she does in the Evil Dead trailer. The Scary Movie franchise has now resorted to spoofing moments from trailers, considering that the film was released a week before Evil Dead - a film it is supposed to be parodying at that the audience are supposed to be aware of.
So, if you like your comedy Americanised, based on what you see on TV all the time and not very funny, then Scary MoVie will be right up your street. However, if you are hoping that Zucker is finally back on form (considering he ended up directing the majority of the film that we see on screen, despite Malcolm D. Lee still being credited as Director, then you will be sorely disappointed.
* / *****
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