Scary Movie

Reviewed by:
Eric Alt

Attention, class: The difference between an ’80s teen comedy and its present-day counterpart can be expressed in terms of the penis-to-bare breast ratio: Kids used to sneak into movies like Fast Times at Ridgemont High to catch a brief glimpse of Phoebe Cates’ nipples; now teens are subjected to more swinging dicks than a Ratpack reunion. Scary Movie lures you in with the promise of seeing Shannon Elizabeth and Carmen Electra in flagrante delicto—but ends up giving you the willies. Literally.

But let’s tuck away the man-meat and get to the point: It’s not as wonderfully vulgar as South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, but it tries. And tries. And tries. Give the Wayans credit for sheer energy: They’ve done their homework and manage to take shots at every product of teen culture from Dawson’s Creek to the “Wasssup?” commercials. Unfortunately, too many of the gags elicit mere chuckles instead of belly laughs (only one scene had us really rolling—not to give anything away, but let’s just say it involves a rather butch gym teacher). Scary Movie’s main target is the Scream franchise, even going so far as to “borrow” characters and entire chunks of dialogue. This works as a set-up, especially the re-imagining of David Arquette’s Deputy Dewey as a drooling retard (not a stretch). You’ll probably enjoy picking out the movies and TV shows referenced along the way, but this one just doesn’t deliver enough laughs.

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