SCARY MOVIE R
Starring Marlin Wayans, Shawn Wayans, and Squiggy
Eric says: ******** 1/2 (8 1/2)
This is everything that Me, Myself, and Irene hoped that it could be, and then some. The Wayans brothers have helped pen a raunchy genitalia-fest that's a scream in the comic sense.
I was happily surprised to find that my regular theatre had actually sold out some opening-nite showings. So I ventured to a nearby movie house in Berkeley to take it all in. As I had now expected, the room was packed, a nervous sense of anticipation filling it up. This is downright rare for a comedy.
We delve right in, leading off with Carmen Elektra in a glorified cameo (a Scream specialty) as Drew, the home-alone scary-movie-liking popcorn-making Victim #1. As would prove to be a consistent theme, while some moments were given away in the trailer, there was plenty new to incite a laugh. By the time the opening credits started scrolling, we'd already given an ovation.
The rest of the film follows mainly the original Scream script, while also paying homage to The Matrix, The Usual Suspects, I Know What You Did Last Summer, Dawson's Creek, Basic Instinct, Jurassic Park, Laverne and Shirley, American Pie, The Sixth Sense, Riverdance, Scream 2, and a handful of others. This is such good-natured comedy, even if it does raise the gross-out bar another notch or twelve. All of the characters are inherently sweet, and even though it doesn't matter at all, you can actually find an affection towards the characters to carry you through the story.
I haven't a single complaint about the story, and, actually, over time have grown to appreciate it more. Here's a little nugget that I only realized about 30 minutes after the movie. Remember the principal in the original Scream? Henry Winkler, most famously known as Fonzi from tv's Happy Days. In Scary Movie, the principal is Squiggy, from Laverne and Shirley, which was a spin-off of Happy Days. Pretty deep for stupid jokes. But FUNNY stupid jokes. See this movie, now.
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