Scary Movie 3

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.

Scary Movie 3 is great humor at first. This one spoofs "The Ring", "Signs", "The Matrix", "The Others" and "8 Mile". Its funny really but only the first time around. The second time you get a chuckle and the third time you probably won't care for some parts.

The movie begins with a rather clever spoof of "The Ring", letting you know what the main spoof of the movie is. The movie then goes off into Cindy (yes the same Cindy from the previous two films). She finds this mysterious tape and watches it and learns that she'll die in seven days. Not unusual for anyone who's seen "The Ring".

The film also focuses on a Pasture that's lost his faith since his wife died in a car accident of a friend who fell asleep behind the wheel (clearly from "Signs"). The crops circles and aliens are there as well.

The THIRD and final focus is on a young boy who wants to be a rapper and hopes to make it in the movie business someday (clearly 8 Mile).

The humor in the film can be to die for. Not so much language and drugs in every scene but as far as sexual humor goes, this film STILL has a lot of that, in case you're wondering. It says "PG-13" but if you've got younger kids keep them FAR FAR AWAY from this movie as a lot of the kiddies will be asking questions to the sexual jokes they don't (and more than likely won't) understand.

But as I said, watching the movie again and again shows that you'll quickly forget it. The humor is nice but a lot of it is incredibly stupid! This is a movie that you go to only for the laughs and nothing more. If you were expecting a CLEVER spoof then you came to the wrong movie.

The DVD offers an alternate ending and if you watch it you'll learn just WHY it wasn't used. The alternate ending is shown to you unedited but it really isn't funny. After a while you stop laughing because it becomes too much and is clearly too stupid.

Overall, the average comedy lover might go for this movie but for someone looking for a smart humor film stay far away.