Cindy (Anna Faris) is back for more in the fourth installment of this horror parody series. This time around Cindy must deal with her house being haunted by a little boy–and her journey is anything but simple. At the same time aliens are beginning to invade earth, and Cindy must find a way to stop them as well. Scary Movie 4 finds Cindy in some of the most precarious situations so far, and she will struggle to find solutions to her problems just like in the past.
One thing that I admire about the Scary Movie franchise is the fact that the writers always attempt to take advantage of each and every moment. Not a moment passes in these films in which viewers question the intentions of the cast and crew–as each moment is filled with attempted comedy. The problem with Scary Movie 4, however, is that most of this comedy fails to entertain at this point, and the repeated attempts to make viewers laugh tend to fail more often than they find success.
Scary Movie 4 is proof that the previously funny series has run its course. The majority of the film became cumbersome to watch and even more difficult to appreciate. I’m all for films producing comedy for the sake of comedy, and I’m even a fan of truly stupid comedy that serves no purpose other than to make viewers laugh–and that’s what the purpose of this series has been, and will likely continue to be. In this fourth installment the series loses its luster and fails to entertain in any way. Scary Movie 4 appears to try too hard and too often to reproduce what had been done in the previous films, failing to make it unique or entertaining in the slightest.
The opening scene featuring Shaquille O’Neal and Dr. Phil McGraw is the best of the film, but also the most disappointing. As Scary Movie 4 begins viewers are exposed to a seriously funny exchange between the aforementioned individuals which promised that the rest of the film would be funny as well; but the comedy ends with that scene. All that viewers hope will continue throughout the course of this film fails to come to fruition, and the film fails as a result.
The comedy isn’t as pure and interesting as it had once been, the story has become even more ridiculous than viewers had seen before, and the try-hard nature of the writers seemingly drowns out any sort of potentially riveting content that may actually exist in Scary Movie 4. Four films in and the excitement of the franchise has officially run its course, leaving Scary Movie 4 with little to entertain its viewers. Fans of the franchise can stop at three. Even without seeing the final installment (Scary Movie V) I know that seeing only the first three films is more than enough. The director, writers, and cast have managed to force this franchise backward, completely failing to entertain and causing viewers to question the validity of the franchise as a whole.
Directed by David Zucker.
Written by Craig Mazin, Jim Abrahams, & Pat Proft.
Starring Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Bill Pullman, Anthony Anderson, Leslie Nielsen, Molly Shannon, Michael Madsen, Chris Elliott, Carmen Electra, Shaquille O’Neal, Dr. Phil McGraw, Cloris Leachman, Conchita Campbell, Beau Mirchoff, Kevin Hart, etc.
⭐⭐⭐/10
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