“Scary Movie 4” proves that downward momentum is still momentum and that some comedic concepts keep rolling long after they’ve exhausted almost all the laughs.
This explains why there were approximately 347 “Police Academy” movies, even though the first one wasn’t that amusing. Once you establish a franchise, a certain amount of people will always show up, as if rubbernecking at a car wreck.
Such is the case with “Scary Movie 4,” which, like all its sequels, starts with something fun and then slowly unravels, like Grandmother’s moth-eaten sweater.
The first two skits are worth a chuckle – I especially liked an opening “Saw” parody with Shaquille O’Neal and Dr. Phil – but director David Zucker, who inherited the series from the Wayans brothers, can’t maintain the pace.
Potty humor is a sure sign that writers have run out of ideas, and “Scary Movie 4” features its share of people making inappropriate noises. When that doesn’t work, they force 80-year-old Leslie Nielsen to wander around nude, which isn’t quite as attractive as you might think.
Casting is also a major problem. “Scary Movie 4” stars Anna Faris, who’s not without gifts, but co-star Craig Bierko doesn’t measure up to other Zucker male leads, the best and most memorable being Robert Hays in the “Airplane!” films.
While “Scary Movie 4” is essentially a series of skits, the story is built around two sci-fi/horror movies: “The Grudge” and “War of the Worlds.” In “The Grudge” segment, Faris plays the caretaker for an elderly lady (Cloris Leachman) in a haunted house. Next door lives Tom Ryan (Bierko), who’s playing the Tom Cruise role from “War of the Worlds.”
One of the funniest bits involves Ryan ignoring his young daughter, patterned after Dakota Fanning. As he talks about being a good dad, the girl is constantly battered and, at one point, even struck by lightning. It works even better considering the amount of babying she receives in the real “War of the Worlds.”
Bierko tries to match Hays’ look of confused consternation in “Airplane!,” but it never quite happens. His scenes with Faris are lopsided as she struggles to make us laugh. You wouldn’t think there’s an actor alive who would make you yearn for Charlie Sheen (a Zucker favorite who has a cameo here), but Bierko manages.
Of course, we can’t blame the whole thing on Bierko (“Cinderella Man”). The screenwriters took lunch and never came back after Page 10, leaving the actors to stumble around in a flat sendup of “The Village,” the M. Night Shyamalan film about an isolated, Amish-like community. Despite the efforts of Bill Pullman, it just doesn’t work.
Despite all this, “Scary Movie” fans will provide the film with a decent box-office showing. Let’s just hope Zucker comes up with a few new jokes for the inevitable “Scary Movie 5.”
* 1/2 | “Scary Movie 4”
PG-13 for crude and sexual humor throughout, some comic violence and language |1 hour, 23 minutes|HORROR SPOOF|Directed by David Zucker; starring Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Bill Pullman|Opened Friday at area theaters.
