Scary Movie 3 (2003) Review

Scary Movie 3 (2003) Review

 

For the third Scary Movie, new writers came on board, as well as a new director, David Zucker, who was no stranger to the parody genre. He directed Top Secret! and created The Naked Gun series and directed one of the original parody films of its kind, Airplane! I think he was a good choice, because Scary Movie 3 is, to me, the best entry in the series.

Cindy (Anna Faris) is back, this time with blonde hair and a career as a reporter. First of all, though, we have to have a ridiculous opening to set the tone, and the flick getting copied/parodied first and foremost is The Ring, with Jenny McCarthy and Pamela Anderson as two women who become terrorized by the evil video tape that kills you in seven days. Right away they demonstrate this will be an even more star-studded affair than last time, and some of the notable cast members had been in spoofs before.

We get Charlie Sheen as a farm owner dealing with crop circles and alien invaders (parodying Signs), but his brother George (Simon Rex) is more interested in becoming a rap star a la Eminem in 8 Mile. We also get Anthony Anderson and Kevin Hart as George’s buddies, Simon Cowell makes a hilarious cameo as himself (a pop culture joke that has aged surprisingly well), Queen Latifah as The Oracle (spoofing The Matrix Reloaded), and Leslie Nielsen as the absolutely hilarious and inept President of the United States, with some of the funniest moments of all, including peeing out of his finger and mistaking people for aliens to disastrous results.

The plot, once again, doesn’t really matter, but it mainly follows/intertwines the plot lines of The Ring and Signs, with plenty of other movies spoofed, referenced, and satirized along the way. I don’t find the parts that are spoofing The Matrix to be as funny as some other parts, and that may be because I haven’t seen Reloaded and I’m not a huge fan of the original, but I also prefer when the Scary Movie franchise focuses on spoofing, well, scary movies, but these Matrix scenes are still way funnier than the ending of the original Scary Movie, or any of the other non-horror-movie spoofing from the first two entries, and that’s mainly thanks to the surprisingly great actors, but also the better writing and directing. Not to put down the Wayans brothers, but their crudeness often got in the way of their jokes, and that feels like less of an issue this time.

The main thing I have to note about Scary Movie 3 is it is really funny, and I mean it. Like the original, there are tons of jokes and not all of them land, but the majority do, and the best types of jokes from the previous movies are done again in new ways, plus there are new inventive comedic moments and gags. The stupidity is still in full force, make no mistake, but it’s less cringe-inducing and less exhaustive. At Brenda’s wake (yeah, she dies again) George mishears Cindy, thinking she says Brenda is awake, and his pals try to help him revive her. The mayhem that ensues is side-splitting and preposterous.

Not all the funny parts are that completely idiotic, though. I always lose it when Cindy starts writing out the truth about the evil tape for the news reporter to read out and the janitor sits on the keyboard, writing out jibberish, then he takes over and starts writing his own material, and the reporter reads every word (and piece of jibberish) out like a true professional. Bruce Almighty may have beat them to the punch with a very similar (and even funnier) scene a few months earlier, but this one never fails to make me laugh-out-loud too. It’s worth noting that Scary Movie 3 was released with a PG-13 rating, unlike the R-rating of the first two, but the version I find to be the funniest is the unrated edition on home video. If you can, watch that cut, it has even more jokes and is even funnier than the tamer theatrical cut.

Scary Movie 3 is the best the franchise has to offer. I couldn’t possibly summarize all the parts I think are funny, but here are a couple more: the rap battle between George and Fat Joe, and the philosophical debates between Anthony Anderson and Kevin Hart. You don’t need to see the first two movies to enjoy it, and if you previously suffered through Scary Movie 2, you deserve to know this one is worth cleansing your palette with. It won’t be for everyone, not every joke works, and some of the bits are dated, but I for one recommend it—it’s the only entry in the series I think is a must-watch for comedy lovers, spoof enthusiasts, and anyone who wants to see early 2000’s horror/cinema/pop culture get roasted.