Scary Movie 4 (DVD)

"The fourth and final chapter in the trilogy", here re-teaming director David Zucker with his Airplane collaborator Jim Abrahams. War Of The Worlds and The Grudge are the focus of the parody this time round
Since it began in 2000, the Scary Movie franchise has gone on to gross more than the Scream films it initially spoofed. It's also had a change of creative team and moved on to aim its lowbrow brand of parody at a wider range of films. This time round, it's War Of The Worlds and The Grudge that are the primary target, Scary Movie 4 managing to (loosely) hybridise the plots of both Spielberg's film and the US version of the J-horror yarn. The film also manages to riff on the Saw films, The Village, Million Dollar Baby and Brokeback Mountain, among others.

Scary Movie 4 is notable for how it re-teams director David Zucker with Jim Abrahams, who here gets a screenwriter credit alongside Craig Mazin, who worked on Scary Movie 3. David Zucker and Abrahams were two of the three people who gave us the seminal spoof movie Airplane! They also worked together on 'Police Squad', Top Secret! and Naked Gun before going their separate ways.

Their collaboration on Scary Movie 4 arguably raises the franchise out of the comedy sewer where it resides, but only by a few inches. Like its predecessors, Scary Movie 4 is dumb, lazy and scattershot - but at least some of the gags hit home. Some. A small percentage.

The chief successes of Scary Movie 4 come in its attacks on films such as Spielberg's 2005 science-fiction epic, with relentless lampooning of that film's lead character and the actor who played him, Tom Cruise. As well as highlighting the utter poppycock of the clean-cut, scarily Scientological Cruise playing a blue collar bad dad, it even goes so far as to do a pretty extensive skit on Cruise's notorious 'Oprah' appearance - though arguably that was so ludicrous it barely needs sending-up.

In a similar vein, the film also sends up the American President, with old hand Leslie Nielsen in the role, here obsessing over the story of a duck being read in a school classroom while the US is being decimated by alien attack. Again, the real Bush is better at playing a parody of an American President, with his myriad nonsensical and semi-literate utterances.

Anyways, Anna Faris is back as the stupid, luckless Cindy Campbell. Where originally she was a play on the Neve Campbell Scream heroine, now she's slotted into the Sarah Michelle Geller role in The Grudge. Cue gags about home help washing down their catatonic charges with urine and ghostly boys (speaking subtitled "Japanese" along the lines of "shitake kimono", "tempura, sushi, sashimi"). The haunted house where Cindy gets a job is alongside that of Tom Ryan (Bierko), a dock worker whose troubled relationship with his kids gets worked out during an alien invasion. If you found the Dakota Fanning daughter character annoying in Spielberg's film, you'll appreciate the battering her proxy (Campbell) gets here. But that's about the extent of the sophistication.

Verdict
Self-important films like The Village, Brokeback Mountain and War Of The Worlds certainly deserve the parody (it's a pity they didn't find time to give Crash the treatment), but Scary Movie 4 remains lowest common denominator fare, despite the reuniting of Zucker and Abrahams.

The Scary Movie franchise has been a huge money maker ever since the Wayans brothers started it. David Zucker took over the series after the Wayans left and made Scary Movie 3. He returns to the series with Scary Movie 4, and while it misses the mark it still is pretty enjoyable. For those who don't know David Zucker, he is the king of spoofs. He made Airplane, The Naked Gun series, Top Secret, and other great spoofs. He consistantly works with Jim Abrahams and Pat Proft, who have brought us other great spoofs such as Hot Shots, Wrongfully Accused, Jane Austen's Mafia, and others. His brother Jerry Zucker who has done a few serious movies is also the man behind Rat Race. So between these guys we have some hilarious and brilliant movie spoofs. Scary Movie is the perfect franchise for these guys, but in a way it's too much for them to handle. What makes a spoof work is all about the timing, the jokes have to be placed in the right places and have to hit at the right moment. Scary Movie 3 was really funny because it had somewhat of a plot. This movie is just joke after joke, with no plot at all. Sure, you don't see these movies for the plot, but in order to have a spoof you need one. The problem with these movies is that they tackle every single film in the genre, while previous spoof movies they made focused on one movie alone. Hot Shots spoofed Top Gun, the second Hot Shots spoofed Rambo, Airplane spoofed Airport, Wrongfully Accused spoofed The Fugitive, Naked Gun spoofed police dramas, and Mafia spoofed The Godfather and Casino. All those movies were very focused. With Scary Movie 4 we jump from tons of different horror movies, some not even horror. This particular installment sends up Brokeback Mountain, Million Dollar Baby, Saw, War Of The Worlds, The Grudge, and a bunch of pop culture thrown into the mix. There are a few jokes that hit the right spot, but it feels disorganized, and when that happens things aren't funny. Comedy is the hardest thing to write, but I've come to expect more from these veterans. Good for a laugh, but will never stand with the other great spoofs they have done. This Scary Movie rarely hits the mark when it needs to, not as sharp as the last one.

Anna Faris continues her role as Cindy Campbell and she is just perfect for the role. By taking everything seriously she makes the jokes work. We lose Charlie Sheen as a main character, which is a shame (even though he's in here as a cameo). Charlie Sheen was the funniest part of Scary Movie 3, instead we have Tom Ryan played by Craig Bierko. His Tom Cruise impersonation is spot on, and he's pretty good. There are plenty of cameos for the whole family, one of which is Bill Pullman. I found it incredibly hilarious that he is in this movie spoofing The Grude since he was actually in The Grudge. Of course you have Leslie Nielson, who is probably one of the greatest comedic actors ever. The whole cast is great, but the film's structure doesn't allow them to really be funny.

The movie is funny, you will laugh. You won't laugh as much or as hard as you did with the previous Scary Movies, but still it's funny. The crazy plot is where the problem lies, and that results in bad timing for the jokes. It's not as clever as it should be considering it comes from Zucker and Abrahams.

Keeping brief and to the point this film is well worth watching if you are into the humour in Airplane, Hot Shots etc or just enjoyed any of the previous Scary Movies - be sure and watch this - the bigger the screen the better!!!!

The spoofs alone will keep you talking - trying to work out where they are from....

Having enjoyed all of the Scary Movie films over the years I thought the latest was just as good as the rest. The spoofs and gags come thick and fast. Anna Faris as ever was on fine form and the guy who spoofs Cruise in War of the Worlds was a welcome addition to the series. No films are sacred and everything is spoofed from the Village to War of the Worlds to Brokeback Mountain. If you love slap stick, dumb, fun humour then Scary Movie 4 comes highly recommended.

Three's a trilogy, four's a bore. As the Scary Movie franchise limps wearily into cinemas yet again, it's hard to summon up much enthusiasm for the regular parade of half-hearted movie parodies. The big targets this time are War Of The Worlds and The Grudge, loosely woven into a plot that sees the preternaturally perky Anna Faris saving the world from tripods with the help of a ghostly Japanese toddler, and romancing Craig Bierko's lunkheaded Tom Cruise figure.

Since David Zucker took over as director, the Scary series has at least managed the odd titter. Zucker, who made Airplane!, is an old hand at this sort of thing, and a couple of gags - both at the expense of the unspeakable dialogue in The Village - live up to his old standards. What else is good? Well, the production values and special effects are unusually high for a film of this type. And it's short.

"WITLESS RETREADS"

Now for the bad news: the movie references are witless retreads rather than proper parodies, the jokes are awful, and the whole thing has the sophistication of a freshman student review. You learn to expect a degree of homophobia from this genre, but even with that in mind, the Brokeback Mountain sequence is pretty insulting.

But let's face it, the Scary Movies aren't made with critics in mind. The franchise has earned oodles of money by understanding exactly what its target audience likes. So if you're a fan of fart noises, snapping bones and Leslie Nielsen naked, go ahead and enjoy yourself. Nobody will think any less of you.

The regular cast return this time spoofing the likes of War Of The Worlds, Brokeback Mountain, Million Dollar Baby, The Grudge, The Village and Saw among others. Not the best, but not the worst of the films, with loads of cameos and in-jokes to keep everyone happy. Toilet humour abounds as per usual - but thats what you want with this series of films.

A tidy little post pub movie. If you dont expect too much from your comedies then this is the one for you - the humour is obvious and sometimes purile, but that's exactly what you are after when you buy these films.

I went to see it in the cinema & loved every bit, so I purchased it! I have enjoyed every Scary Movie & own all 4! I didn't think that it was as good as the first three, but definately one to watch.

a very enjoyable addition to the trilogy. Sit back and play "Spot the Reference" The Grudge references made me laugh out loud. Maybe not a family film so get your mates in..

I bought the dvd as a present for my husband.
I bought it because of the price which was a lot cheaper than I could buy it in the shops.
It was so simple to order, delivery was quick and my husband was over the moon with his present.

ok however, think its too short, and they squeezed it all in, could have made it longer, however good film, not great, overall 4/5 rating just,

I really wanted to see this film at the cinemas but after bad reviews I decided not to. When I saw it on eBay for £4.50 I decided to get it just to see what it was like. The first half hour was great and filled with laughs, after that though I just switched off. The rest of the film was generally boring and wasn't worth the time of day.
Get it if you are bored on a very rainy day.

THIS WAS BOUGHT FOR MY SON BUT WHEN IT ARRIVED IT WAS A COPY (BUT A GOOD COPY) DISSAPOINTED THAT IT WASNT THE REAL THING..I WISH PEOPLE WOULD BE MORE HONEST WITH THERE ITEMS

I decided to buy it because I loved the other scary movies.

It was good and very funny like the others and there are some laugh out loud moments however it was only better than scary movie 3 and 1&2 are much better.

I would recomend it to anyone looking for some laughs.

I have the other three films so i thought i would get this one,and i am glad i did.The film is not as funny as the other three but worth watching.

Really funny movie, even though its the fourth one its still great and manages to bring some new humour to the plate. Im glad i bought this.

Having enjoyed all of the Scary Movie films over the years I thought the latest was the best so far. The spoofs and gags come thick and fast. Anna Faris as ever was on fine form and the guy who spoofs Cruise in War of the Worlds was a welcome addition to the series. No films are sacred and everything is spoofed from the Village to War of the Worlds to Brokeback Mountain. It's worth buying for "the Cruise losing his mind on Oprah" spoof which is quality! If you love slap stick, dumb, fun humour then Scary Movie 4 comes highly recommended.

The "Scary Movie" gang are back with their most hilarious and irreverent installment yet! "Scary Movie 4" is filled with outrageous send-ups of "War of the Worlds," "The Grudge," "The Village," "Saw" and "Saw II," "Million Dollar Baby" and much more.Check out the hoodies when their chains are left in a heap on the floor after being vapourised by the aliens.......brilliant!
I love this series but i think now its ran its course and should stop now before over egging this type of satire!
Still a great film with plenty of laughs. Worth a watch if you need a pick me up!
Debbie

scary movie 1 & 2 were great spoofs, 3 waas kinda poor in comparison and 4 is even worse.
apart from the odd funny bit i'm afraid i wouldn't bother in all honesty.they should have stopped at 2 and finished on a high.

Worth a look and a giggle and you don't have to pay a full price for a copy on Ebay ! Very similar to all the other 'Scary' movies in the set. You can tell they are from the makers of the Airplane films.

I think very funny but I have a daft sense of humour! Maybe not as funny as number two, but this is my opinion.

quick delivery, good condition, no complaints.good good good good good good good good good good good good good good goood go

must see comedy horror good fun for the old and young a spoof making combining all different films i would reccomend this highly to anyone who wants to cheer them selves up

i bought this item for my daughter as a gift. i liked it because it was in excellent condition and also liked the ease of ordering. there is nothihg i dislike about this item.