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I don't know why or how the Wayans brothers aren't involved, but frankly it's for the better. The movie is absolutely hilarious. Oh sure, there are jokes so obvious they are like seeing a jumbo jet landing in your front yard, but there are also enough surprises that catch you off guard to more than make up for that.

The "plot" purees The Ring, Signs and Eight Mile into a mismatch of parody and slap-stick well enough that you wish the Zuckers and Jim Abrahams would get back together and come up with one more. This is mostly for two scenes that sustain laughs so long they actually hurt. Don't get me wrong. This nothing more than stupid, sophomoric humor, but when in the hands of talented comedic film makers, it becomes a film that demands repeated viewings much like Airplane! and Top Secret. In other words, a laugh riot.


A Great Spoof.   January 21, 2004
 16 out of 25 found this review helpful

I have seen the first two movies in the "Scary Movie" seris, but I didn't like them. Then I saw the commerials for this movie, and relized that it was rated PG-13. Then I saw the movie, and I thought it was great. It worked perfectly as a PG-13 movie. A comedy movie would appeal everybody, and it doesn't have to be filled with language, and non-stop sex humor and drugs to be funny. That's why I liked this movie. It was a hard PG-13 but it still worked better than the first movies did. I think that's the reason why nobody liked this movie. Because of the PG-13 rating. I thought it was great.

This movie spoofed present day horror films like "The Ring," and "Signs." It also spoofed movies like "The Matrix," and "8 Mile." There were also cameos by Queen Latifah, Eddie Griffin, and Simon from American Idol, doing what he does best, rating people's preformances, and getting what he deserves... shot.

The returning main character Cindy appears n this movie. Now she is a new anchorwomen who has found a mysterious videotape, like "The Ring," that will kill anybody who watches it in seven days. But nobody believes her, including her friend and her nephews teacher. On the other side of town, Farmer Tom is wondering about the mysterious crop circles found in his wheat fields, like "Signs." His wannabe rap star white brother George, has dreams of hitting it big, like "8 Mile." George goes to a rap-off contest because of his friend and rap promotor Mahalik. (Mahalik is played by Anthony Anderson, an actor who I think is very funny, and has chances of being a very good future comandian.) Cindy uses the Oracle and The Architect from "The Matrix," movies to help her find out more about the videotape. The King of Spoof Leslie Neilson plays The President of the United States who eventually becomes involved when it becomes clear that aliens are coming to Earth. Also Cindy finds out more about the videotape that could lead to answers.

This movie had so much humor, that while you are laughing at one joke, another one has already started, and you miss that and another one is already starting. It is satire. It is like "Death to Smoochy," and movie that is a satire to Barney and childrens broadcasting. This is a satire of other movies. Similiar to "Death to Smoochy." What I am waiting for now, is a spoof of the "Scary Movie 1-3" movies. That would be intesting. A spoof of a spoof. See "Scary Movie 3," and watch it like it's own movie. Watch it like the other two never came out. Don't compare it to the first. It is its own movie, and it always will be. I liked it!

ENJOY!

rated PG-13 for pervasive crude and sexual humor, language, comic violence and drug references.


BETTER THAN SCARY MOVIE 2...   May 17, 2004
 16 out of 21 found this review helpful

"Scary Movie 3" parodies a number of scare flicks. Viewer who have seen certain movies, such as "Signs", "The Ring", and "The Matrix", will better understand some of the jokes and sight gags around which the thin story line revolves. Unfortunately, the film loses some of its focus, as it digresses into a parody of Eminem's film "8 Mile", which is not a scary movie. Still, the movie has an impressive cast, boasting such luminaries as Pamela Anderson and her pneumatic breasts, Jenny McCarthy, Charlie Sheen, Camryn Manheim, Jeremy Piven, Anna Faris, Simon Rex, George Carlin, Queen Latifah, Leslie Nielsen, Simon Cowell (as himself), and a whole slew of music stars, including Macy Gray ( as herself).

The plot line is quite thin, however, as it revolves around a cute, air headed reporter, Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris), who is interested in the crop circles found on the farm of a former clergyman named Tom (Charlie Sheen), who lives on the farm with his brother, George (Simon Rex), a budding would be rapper. Cindy believes that the aliens who made the crop circles have a connection to a mysterious video tape that ensures the death of its viewer within seven days. The President of the United States (Leslie Nielsen) becomes involved in this falderal, when alien invasion seems imminent.

This movie is not for everyone. It has some really funny moments, such as Simon Cowell's turn as a music critic in a rap club, where he finally gets his just desserts. Queen Latifah is terrific as "The Oracle", as is George Carlin as "The Architect". Leslie Nielsen reigns supreme as our daffy president. The interjection of a Michael Jackson look-a-like is pretty funny, though I am sure Michael Jackson himself would disagree, as the pedophile innuendo is, indeed, a little jarring. One of the children in the film, Cody (Drew Mikuska), who has a number of funny moments due to his ability to read minds, is likewise subject to a lot of outright physical violence in the movie, a concept that I found very disturbing and not at all funny.

There is, however, quite a bit of slapstick and a lot of sight gags. Everything is fair game. I think that the movie would have been a lot better had it kept its original focus and not digressed into a parody of "8 Mile", as it diluted the premise of the film. This film is almost as funny as the first Scary Movie and funnier than the second one, though that is not saying much. Everyone gives excellent performances. The problem with the film is that it ends up being neither fish nor fowl. So, it ultimately is not as good as it should have been, given the cast with which it is blessed.

The DVD has excellent audio and visuals. It provides the usual film commentary, as well as quite a number of deleted scenes with commentary. There is also an alternate ending in which a parody of the Hulk is interjected. All I can say is that it is a good thing that another ending was filmed. The bottom line is that one should rent this film before buying it.


"Sex, violence and the weather"   July 14, 2004
 7 out of 9 found this review helpful

Loosely based on the summer blockbuster movies The Ring and Signs, and strangely enough, the Eminem film, 8 Mile, Scary Movie 3 provides more of the toilet humour and juvenile laughs that we have come to expect from this series. Unfortunately though, this installment is pretty light on the laughs. The first two movies were actually funny and clever, and although they were unashamedly audacious in their tackiness, there was a kind of enduring honesty to them that left the viewer chuckling for more. When watching Scary Movie 3, the viewer is more likely to be laughing in embarrassment, and wondering why Hollywood could malign and continue a franchise that has become so obviously tired.

If you've seen Signs or The Ring, you'll have a pretty good idea of the plot of Scary Movie 3. Like in the previous Scary Movies, lead actress Anna Faris is back as Cindy Campbell. This time, she's dropped into the middle of a combination alien invasion/ghost story. After watching a killer video tape, she has only seven days to live, and, in that time, she has to stop a deranged ghost living in a well, fall in love with a white, self-doubting rapper named George played by a bumbling Simon Rex, and help the President - a tired, embarrassed looking Leslie Nielsen - stymie an invasion by aliens who have a fondness for the corn field of a minister-turned-farmer, played by the desperate Charlie Sheen. Along the way, Denise Richards, Queen Latifa, and Camryn Manhem, Simon Cowell, and the big-breasted Pamela Anderson pop in for a visit.

Anna Faris is her usual perky, big-eyed self, Charlie Sheen appears somewhat ashamed to be in this rubbish, and Simon Rex is probably the unlikeliest and most unlikable love interest one will ever see in a movie. Then there's the sad case of 77-year old Leslie Nielsen, as a bumbling lame-duck president who spends his limited screen time trying to re-create the kind of comedic bumbling that became his meat-and-potatoes when he re-invigorated his career in the '80s. Now, this routine is tired, repetitious, and devoid of energy - which is a pretty good way to describe the movie as a whole.

Absent for this third installment are the Wayans Brothers who are replaced by David Zucker and his scribe-for-hire, Pat Proft, which is unfortunate because it is the Wayans Brothers gift for irreverent humour, that made the first two so funny, even though they were bordering on the offensive. There are about three or four genuine laughs in Scary Movie 3, and a lot of failed jokes in between. The comedy is lame and flaccid with characters that are either constantly falling over or bumping into things and there's a child that is continually hit by a car and thrown out a window. There's also some gross-out material and various indignities are performed on a corpse. The weaving together of the primary three storylines is done awkwardly, and the narrative is fractured and hard to follow. With so much of the humor failing, it becomes increasingly obvious that there's not much of a storyline to fall back on, and that makes Scary Movie 3 a gigantic waste of time and almost unwatchable. Mike Leonard July 04.


The Best Rapping-Witch-UFO Comedy I Have Ever Seen   July 21, 2005
 6 out of 10 found this review helpful

"Scary Movie 3" is a disjointed parody of many recent horror films, and principally stars Leslie Nielsen, Charlie Sheen, and the lovely Anna Faris. The film is inconsistent and suffers from some overused gags, but does have some genuinely entertaining moments, my favorite of which is the great visual gag of the "crop circle" on Charlie Sheen's farm.

One central problem with the film is that it attempts to work too many gags from too many sources into a single (short) movie. Many of the gags are funny (Leslie Nielsen's reprise of his "I just want to tell you both good luck" line from "Airplane" comes to mind), but many others are overdone and grow tiresome (I am thinking of the fisticuffs in the White House here). I will say without qualification that the rapping subplot parody gets very old, very fast.

The actual killer videotape is fairly entertaining to watch along with the "terrified" cast members, and some of the pop culture skewers are pretty good (I am thinking of the Michael Jackson piece, although it hits a bit close to home after Jackson's recent trial), but much of the slapstick falls short; this is especially true with the aliens in the cornfield.

This is pure mindless entertainment, and is utterly forgettable in every way. Having said that, it does deliver a few good laughs, but it is uneven in execution. I hesitantly recommend it to people who want to laugh at something silly. If you approach it from that angle, you will be getting what you expect, and what the producers wanted to deliver.