“Scary Movie 3” is funny but flawed

In “Scary Movie 3,” a few of the original cast members return,

popular Hollywood films still get spoofed and the humor is about as

brainless as you can get, yet some major changes were made in the

franchise for its latest offering. Director David Zucker (“The

Naked Gun” and “Airplane”) replaces previous director Keenen Ivory

Wayans and while the two previous films were some of the raunchiest

comedies in years, the vulgarity has been toned down to a PG-13

level here.

The final product is a major mixed bag. While “Scary Movie 3”

contains several laugh-out-loud moments, those scenes are

unfortunately overshadowed by an endless amount of failed attempts

at hilarity. Even though this third entry is far superior to the

second installment, the movie should have been and could have been

much funnier.

While the two previous “Scary Movies” spoofed many films, the

makers of “3” evidently decided to work with just a few. Most of

the jokes in the movie succeed or fail depending on whether or not

the audience has seen the films “The Matrix Reloaded,” “The

Others,” “8 Mile” and most of all, “Signs” and “The Ring.”

One of the best things about “Scary Movie 3” is that even when

the film is failing at making you die laughing, it is consistently

creative and entertaining. I am a fan of all of the spoofed films

and that helped to make this movie fun for me. Notably clever were

the film’s various gags, which parody the deadly videotape from

“The Ring.”

Seeing as a lot of comedies fail to ever really make you laugh

in the first place, “Scary Movie 3” is commendable for at least

supplying a few big laughs. If only the ratio of the amount of

times the film really makes you laugh to the amount of times it

fails were a little better.

2.5 out of 4 rams