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The Awful Spoof

I can understand why Anna Faris (a likable actress and general good sport) signed on to the first and even the second "Scary Movie". As a young actress this franchise must have seemed like a way to open doors for a serious acting career. Okay, I'll even give her the benefit of the doubt for "Scary Movie 3", when the franchise reigns were handed from the Wayans brothers to David Zucker. Working with one third of the Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker combo that launched the genre which is the raison d'etre of this series must have seemed like an opportunity. But after SM3 proved to be as unfunny as it was un-scary, I wouldn't have blamed Ms. Faris for calling it quits. And yet, here's "Scary Movie 4", the latest attempt to wring some dollars out of the pockets of moviegoers eager for a quick fart-related laugh.

The quality of the Z-A-Z parodies had been in steady decline long before the first "Scary Movie" came out. But you can usually count on a Zucker film for a few good laughs. Not so with "Scary Movie 4", a film so short on inspiration that it barely even parodies the horror genre. I hesitate to mention "Airplane!" in the same review as this film because it's an unfair comparison. But remember how that film was a parody of those old "Airport" disaster films? And remember how the woefully overlooked "Top Secret!" was a take-off of war movies? Same for "Naked Gun" and police dramas. Well, "Scary Movie 4" is a spoof of…"War of the Worlds" and "The Village". There's a dash of "The Grudge" and "Saw" thrown in, I suspect, just to keep the film loosely tied to its franchise.

Okay, yes, all those films were pretty lackluster and ripe for parody, but "Scary Movie 4" is just a scattershot mash-up of pratfalls, fart jokes and, strangely, violence against women and children. Now, don't get me wrong, I love a good comedy. And I didn't expect subtlety going into this movie. But even parody needs some kind of brain - something other than "now someone falls down." You can almost hear the script meetings: "remember that scene from 'War of the Worlds' where they're playing catch in the backyard? Wouldn't it be funny if he throws the ball and it hits someone in the face?! That's gold!" And that's about the size of it.

Literally, there are two types of jokes in "Scary Movie 4": a direct lift from one of the aforementioned movies (impressive only for the budget it must have taken to mimic those alien tripods) and someone getting hit in the face or groin. Seriously, I think there are about fifteen shots in the face - mostly against poor Ms. Faris and Conchita Campbell, in the unenviable role of the Dakota Fanning avatar. The structure of the script, written by Mr. Abrahams and Craig Mazin, is essentially dialogue, spoof, dialogue, spoof, ad nauseam (literally), with nothing holding it all together.

And then, in the middle of it all, we have Leslie Nielsen, the shining star of almost every Z-A-Z movie since "Airplane!" Like a trusty pair of jeans, Mr. Nielsen can be counted on to provide a memorable spit-take or laugh-line, though the denim is a little worn and the seams are beginning to show. Still, I'd take a whole movie of his bumbling President Harris rather than one more "Scary Movie" installment. Heck, I got it! "Scary Movie 5: Haunted White House". That's gold!