School’s out, and Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) is starting a new career in the local news business in Washington D.C. as an upstart reporter. One story that she is very passionate about is the appearance of mysterious crop circles at a farm several miles away owned by brothers Tom (Charlie Sheen) and George (Simon Rex). Those closest to the phenomenon have started to suspect the presence of extra-terrestrial beings, but George doesn’t let these worries keep him from pursuing a rap battle career with the help of his “homies” Mahalik (Anthony Anderson) and CJ (Kevin Hart). While these unexplained events continue, a killer video tape begins to circulate around town. Once someone watches it, they receive a phone call which alerts them that they only have seven more days to live. This hits extremely close to home for Cindy, as her cousin Cody (Drew Mikuska) is slated to become the next victim. But George, who seems to have quite an interest in the young reporter, makes it his mission to help out in any way he can to ward off a possible alien invasion while protecting Cody from the evil little girl. This sets up a comically quick witted flick that aims to take down newer and popular thrillers while still delivering on comedy the entire way through.
The one notable and obvious difference between this volume and the previous two is the “changing of the guard” behind the camera. The Wayans decided to part ways with the series between the second and third, so enter one David Zucker. At first, the name alone was not familiar to me, but his parody pedigree speaks for itself, as he is attached to notable franchises The Naked Gun and Airplane! These two are arguably the two most important in the film satire universe, so at the very least, the project didn’t fall into the hands of either a cheap or rookie director like many “extended” sequels do. Because of this move, SM3 has a quite a different feel to it. The big comedic set ups and gross out moments indicative of 1 and 2 have been supplanted by zing-y one-liners, cheeky jokes, and even some classic slap stick comedy. To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I would be a fan of this new “flavor,” but the all out/unapologetic way it is handled makes it work for what it is.
Along with the change in comedy comes a change in philosophy. Scary Movie, for instance, is more or less just a parody of one text, Scream, with tid-bits from generic conventions and other sources just for support. Another parody by the Wayans entitled Don’t Be a Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood extensively parallels the John Singleton picture Boyz N the Hood while picking up other influences like Menace II Society and South Central in an effort to not just match “shot for shot” with one film and also give it some added laughs. But the main text is Boyz at the end of the day. This isn’t the case with SM3, as the narrative is an intertwined jumble of Signs and The Ring with dashes of The Matrix, 8 Mile, among others thrown in for good measure. Again, when I first saw it years ago I had my doubts. But Zucker being matched up again with producer Bob K. Weiss and writer Pat Proft showed that it wasn’t their first rodeo, and actually made the story play out relatively well for it being a “dumb parody.”
The writing done for Anna Faris actually got her more directly involved with the comedy instead of just playing point guard for the “funnier” characters. Some of her parts in this movie reminded me of the Airplane! character Elaine Dickinson portrayed by Julie Hagerty with a charming, yet air-headed persona that makes for classic exchanges between other actors (and during on-screen phone conversations). Simon Rex puts in a solid, “deer in headlights” routine while Sheen shines with the concerned mannerism of a man unsure of himself (just for the character of course, not Charlie himself). The much needed “laugh out loud” portion of the program is delivered by Anthony Anderson and Kevin Hart. Their parts put this one in the “pretty good” category, especially when the two of them go on one of their ridiculously funny “philosophical” rants. But I was really impressed with the way the entire cast dealt with the decathlon of movie references and made seamlessly funny ties with every twist and turn.
I don’t have any real complaints with the presentation. The DTS 5.1 is serviceable, but the picture quality is actually crisp and clear (especially when putting it side-by-side with the Blu-Ray version of SM2). The Special Features portion serves it’s purpose with effectiveness, but it definitely isn’t the most extensive section I’ve ever seen.
-“Making Scary Movie 3“: Standard featurette detailing what makes the franchise different from other comedy/parody offerings and how this is achieved with contributions from Jenny McCarthy, producer Bob Weiss, director David Zucker, and more.
-“Making Scary Movie 3… For real”: Tells what the “blueprint” for the whole idea of the third one is in an approach that is anything but serious.
-Audio Commentary with Director David Zucker, Producer Robert K. Weiss, Writers Craig Mazin and Pat Proft.
-Deleted and Extended Scenes.
-Outtakes and Bloopers.
-Alternate Ending.
-Hulk vs. Aliens – Behind the Scenes of the alternate ending.