SCARY MOVIE 2 A film review by Blake French Copyright 2001 filmcritic.com
The original Scary Movie was no cinematic masterpiece, but Scary Movie 2 isn't even on that par. Keenen Ivory Wayans directs this shapeless, excruciating mess of a movie that delivers exactly what we expect, just not in a funny way. While I admire the risk it takes in pushing pushing the envelope, I don't admire Scary Movie 2 as a whole. Tasteless, raunchy humor is expected -- but does anyone want revolting and nauseating humor? There's a fine line between funny and just plain sick; this movie goes way beyond that line.
The original was imaginative with its send-up of teen slasher flicks. Although relentless in its humor, it contained a definite purpose, a true central character, and motivation. Not that I liked it, but it offered a lot more than this sequel. Here, setting replaces story, and that leads to an assortment of problems.
Screwball humor works best when it is situation based. Scary Movie spoofs recent movies such as Hannibal, What Lies Beneath, The House on Haunted Hill, Charlie's Angels, The Haunting, and many others. Unfortunately this movie rarely captures the attitude of a screwball comedy. It's a bitter festival of perversion; the sequences feel distant, unrelated, and seldom do they advance the plot. Well, if you can call it a plot. The first film loosely followed the structure of Scream, but SM2 has nothing. It just fires off a lot of rounds, but they rarely hit their targets.
Why's that? It took seven screenwriters to create Scary Movie 2, and it's almost as if the only guidance given to each writer was that he be locked in a room and forced to concoct his own gross-out situation in an attempt to outdo the others. The product of those efforts gives us a few early laughs, notably a hoot of an opening scene, wherein James Woods stars in a memorable parody of The Exorcist. But after the title sequence, everything plummets downhill.
Scary Movie 2 contains plenty of creative jokes that evolve from sexuality, drug use, intestinal difficulties, a vulgar talking bird, reproductive organs, homosexuality, race relations, bodily fluids... oh, and once in a while there's a gag about a ghost. Any semblance of this being a "scary" movie is lost altogether.
Of course, I sigh in surrender, as nobody will see Scary Movie 2 for a thought-provoking story, well-developed characters, or a solid narrative. In fact, they'll come for the exact opposite reason -- because it doesn't have those things it will offer a cheap laugh. While this is no critics' picture, I can find pleasure in slapstick and screwball humor, and I treasure the creativity it takes to spoof serious material. The problem comes when there is absolutely no humor and no creativity in the end product. Now that's scary.
RATING: *1/2
|------------------------------|
\ ***** Perfection \
\ **** Good, memorable film \
\ *** Average, hits and misses \
\ ** Sub-par on many levels \
\ * Unquestionably awful \
|------------------------------|
Director: Keenen Ivory Wayans Producer: Eric L. Gold Screenwriter: Alison Fouse, Greg Grabianski, Dave Polsky, Michael Anthony Snowden, Craig Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans Stars: Anna Faris, Jon Abrahams, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Tori Spelling, Christopher Kennedy Masterson, Regina Hall, James Woods, Chris Elliot, Natasha Lyonne, Tim Curry, David Cross, Keenen Ivory Wayans
MPAA Rating: R
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