Scary Movie 4

Its pointless trying to analyse this film as some reviewers have obviously tried to do here. Its not hilarious by any means but it does pass an amusingly enjoyable 80 minutes of time. The gags are mostly clichéd and predictable, there's lots of tired old slapstick but when there's nothing else on TV (which is why I watched this) it certainly fits the bill. As for the appearance of 'Michael Jackson' in the film, I'm still laughing every time I think about it - heaven knows how they got away with it, but its certainly a funny moment!! Im' glad that I had seen all the films that this tries to spoof and the re-creation of the sets for War of the Worlds is fantastic. Its so close to the original.

The unemployed Cindy Campbell (Anna Farris) is hired to work in a cursed house as caretaker of an old lady and meets the ghost of a boy. Meanwhile, the teenager son Robbie and the young daughter Rachel of his next door neighbor and crane operator Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko) are spending the weekend with their loser father. Cindy and Tom meet and fall in love for each other, but when Giant Tripods invade Earth, Tom escapes with Robbie and Rachel; Cindy travels to a village, trying to find the answer to a riddle to save the world; and the president of USA organizes the defense of the planet in UN under his intelligence and leadership.

As I have previously wrote, parody movies are always of the type 'love or hate' it. I am not intellectual, I love cinema as culture, but also as entertainment, so I like this genre. Further, when I see this type of movie, I know exactly what I am going to see: scatological jokes, funny and surrealistic references to other films and definitely a movie that will never be indicated for an Oscar.

I found this "Scary Movie 4" also very funny. The screenplay is a big joke with the remake of "War of the Worlds", entwined with "The Grudge" and "The Village". It also satirizes "Saw" and "Saw 2", "Brokeback Mountain" and "Million Dollar Baby". There are also references to the American pop culture that I unfortunately have not understood, like for example Dr. Phil, the Oprah talk show in the end (see Obs.) or Bruce the Bed King. Leslie Nielsen is hilarious in the role of the smart president.

This is the type of movie that you must shut down your brain and start laughing. What I do not understand and really irritates me are the reviews of persons that should never watch this type of movie. What do they expect to see when they go to the movie theaters or buy / rent a DVD called "Scary Movie 4" ("the last part of a trilogy"), directed by David Zucker and with Leslie Nielsen and Anna Farris in the cast? An art movie, with hidden messages, an epic, a classic or a film with politically correct jokes? Honestly, if I did not like this genre, I would never spend my time watching it. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): 'Todo Mundo em Pânico 4' ('Everybody in Panic 4')

Obs: My son has just forwarded "Tom Cruise Freakin Out On Oprah" in Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M08PfuP_NXs

Having seen all three previous Scary Movies I was well informed as to what to expect from the film, yet I wasn't at all bored with the film. I found my self chuckling out loud for the entirety of the movie. Some of the gags in the film were really quite funny, especially the Brokeback Mountain sketch between "Mahalik" and "CJ" was particularly funny. some of the apparently off the cuff humour was really quite enjoyable to watch including the banter between the above characters. Anna Faris was on usual form fulfilling her role as the "female title fight boxer", her missing swing at female opponent "Mike Tyson"(busy biting ears) causing nearly everyone involved in the fight and the crowd, to almost majestically, break their necks, leaving Cindy distraught and full of guilt. The overall length of the movie was quite short but I felt that it was just the right time, any longer and perhaps my interest would have been lost. The Tom Cruise character in the film was OK but his face was rather annoying sometimes, and they even managed to get in a contractual Michael Jackson kiddie fiddler crack. Overall I thought the performances were good and was a quality addition to the Scary Movie franchise.

I went into this film a little hesitantly...How can there possibly be a fourth Scary Movie that still keeps its humour? Well, it was (half) possible. Although the overall structure isn't as tight as the other three, the jokes are often still 'fresh' and there's a lot of slapstick, which, although predictable, is still funny! Anna Faris (Cindi), as always, is still on top form, as is Regina Hall (Brenda) and together, they deliver some fantastic comedy.

If you're looking for a new, original comedy, perhaps this isn't for you. However, if you're a fan of Scary Movie 1, 2 and 3, then how could you boycott this one?! Go for it, even if it's only 80 minutes for a laff and a haff!

Be honest with yourself.. You don't watch these type of movies for the story, you watch them for the laughs and it delivers just that. There is nothing to learn here, this movie has no depth what so ever but it doesn't need it.

I can safely say that this is one of the most braindead movies I have ever seen in my 32 year long life and I enjoyed every second of it. Don't take it too seriously and you will have a good time.