JournalStar.com - Ground Zero Online

'Scary Movie 4' is the series' best
BY L. KENT WOLGAMOTT / GZO
Friday, Apr 14, 2006 - 12:10:19 am CDT

“Scary Movie 4” is yet another critic-proof movie, a picture that no matter what anybody writes or says will draw an audience with its spoofs on hit films and goofy, crude humor.

The good news is that director David Zucker and co-writer Pat Proft, who are a couple of the guys responsible for “Airplane” and the “Naked Gun” movies, have made “Scary Movie 4” the best in the series. Admittedly, that’s not saying much, but there are some good laughs scattered throughout the inanity.

In fact, the movie opens with one of its funniest bits, NBA star Shaquille O’Neal and Dr. Phil chained in a basement about to be killed, a la “Saw.” The kicker: To get away, Shaq has to make a free throw using a chunk of stone.

Then “Scary Movie 4” heads into its story, such as it is. A knock-off of “War of the Worlds,” the picture casts Craig Bierko as a dim-bulb version of Tom Cruise. Moving into the house next door is Cindy Campbell, a series regular played by Anna Faris. When the aliens attack, Cindy runs across her old, oversexed friend Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall) and the adventure through the movies is on.

Among the pictures that get sent up are “Brokeback Mountain,” “The Village” and “Million Dollar Baby” as well as the plethora of Japanese horror pictures that have been adapted in the U.S.

Zucker also recruited some old collaborators in Charlie Sheen and Leslie Nielsen, who plays President Harris, and gets cameos from the likes of Bill Pullman, Michael Madsen and Carmen Electra.

The humor here — surprise, surprise — is a combination of slapstick physical stuff and juvenile crude. That’s a direct nod to the picture’s audience — the teen/early twentysomething crowd. But some of the bits actually have some wit, and Zucker, to his credit, keeps things barreling along.

That isn’t enough to rescue “Scary Movie 4” from the hit-and-miss doldrums. But at least it isn’t a full-on horror story.

Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@journalstar.com.