Scary Movie 3 (2003) starring Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, Regina Hall, Leslie Nielsen, D.L. Hughley, Anthony Anderson directed by David Zucker Movie Review

Scary Movie 3 (2003)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Simon Rex, Anna Faris and Charlie Sheen in Scary Movie 3

Cindy in Ring Piece

Simple truth is that when it comes to spoof movies the first one is usually good but then the line of obligatory sequels usually suck, they get made because they are quick and I presume turn a reasonable profit. As such after the reasonably funny "Scary Movie" came the terrible "Scary Movie 2" and then, yes you guessed it, "Scary Movie 3" but the irony is that whilst this third movie isn't good it is a damn sight better than the second movie. And the simple reason is not the jokes or the writing but because David Zucker directs and he makes the most out of some lame material, he makes the truly funny gags the centre pieces whilst keeping the pace moving so that all the lame stuff doesn't leave you with enough time to groan.

Having become a TV News reporter Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris - Lost in Translation) finds herself intrigues by a crop circle up at Tom & George's (Charlie Sheen & Simon Rex) farm but at the same time gets drawn into a mystery surrounding a video, not that sort of video. When her friend Brenda (Regina Hall) dies 7 days after watching this strange video Cindy also watches it and gets a strange phone call which says she will also die in 7 days, but worse her nephew Cody (Drew Mikuska) also watches it. So Cindy must get to the bottom of this video before time runs out and would you know it, it's connected to those crop circles up at Tom & George's farm.

Pamela Anderson	and Jenny McCarthy in Scary Movie 3

So it has to be said that by the time "Scary Movie 3" was made the movie whilst still having a storyline was really more about how many movie references could be slammed into about 90 minutes and how many jokes could be made. As such whilst we have Cindy once again returning and finding herself drawn into a horror scenario the storyline is weak. Now admittedly spoof movies are never really about the storyline and in many ways what is cobbled together here is better than "Scary Movie 2" but it is still little more than a poor excuse for various gags.

As such "Scary Movie 3" is really just about the jokes and the movie spoofs and there are quite a few movies and characters which they poke fun of as we have "The Ring" mixed with "Signs" spiced up with a dash of "Matrix" alongside some "8 Mile". How you manage to combine such diverse movies into one is beyond me and I will admit it takes talent especially when other smaller movie references are thrown in as well. But because the storyline is so weak it does often feel like one spoof moment after another with no connection between the scenes. Basically someone thought of a funny gag and threw it in to the mix not caring that it has zip to do with the story.

Then there is of course the humour, from the opening scene which sees Pamela Anderson and Jenny McCarthy being two air headed school girls to a funeral scene as well as moments of young children supposedly being hit by a car. As I said the one thing director David Zucker does right is that he keeps things moving so that all the lame jokes and there are a serious amount of lame jokes go by before you can groan. And instead he allows just a few of them to really make an impact with the funny rapping sing off being one of the better moments.

As for the acting well like with all these spoof movies there is nothing to write home about, Anna Faris is once again good fun as Cindy whilst Charlie Sheen is always amusing in these sort of daft movies. And the likes of Simon Rex, Drew Mikuska and Regina Hall deliver some fun moments but as a rule you've forgotten those moments before the movie has even ended.

What this all boils down to is that "Scary Movie 3" is still not as good as "Scary Movie" but most certainly is an improvement on "Scary Movie 2". Basically it delivers everything you expect from a spoof sequel and whilst there are a handful of genuinely funny scenes most of it is forgettable.


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