My Review of Scary Movie 4 (2006)

 

Written by Craig Mazin And Jim Abrahams And Pat Proft

Directed by David Zucker 

Jeremiah: "I am sorry, Elder Hale... but sometimes my tongue wiggles beyond my ability to control it."

Brenda: "This is a problem with which I have had much experience. Maybe I could help him in a room in which there are no others. Or you can all watch. I don't give a shit."

And we've reached the part of the franchise where the last vestiges of the Wayans influence were present. This was the last film in the franchise to feature both Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) and Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall). I wouldn't say it ended on a particularly high note.

Let's see, this time around we're dealing with Saw, The Grudge and The Village as the bones of the plot. The film opened with Shaquille O'Neal being captured by a very familiar and not as menacing puppet. 

Then there's Cindy. Her marriage ended and she became a widow, her nephew was gone to military schooland she was now looking after old people like Mrs. Norris (Cloris Leachman) and dealing with creepy ghost boys (Garrett Masuda). Oh and Brenda's back because in this franchise, death won't keep get her down. As usual, the highlight in every movie.

Now here we've got Cindy getting involved with single father, Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko) and the latter's children, Robbie (Beau Mirchoff) and Rachel (Conchita Campbell). The romance plots Cindy got in these later movies weren't interesting and this one was rather flat.

There's a bit more fun to be had when Cindy and Brenda ended up in a backwards village and have the likes of Henry Hale (Bill Pullman) as a foil. Brenda in particular charmed the likes of Jeremiah (John Reardon). Let's just say that Brenda's butter churning skills left a profound effect on Jeremiah.

Throw in another alien invasion, a secondary love story between Brenda and Zoltar (David Zucker) and puppets getting beaten by Brenda and it's mostly an okay third act. I would've preferred something other than an alien invasion or Cindy getting another bland love interest. This movie reheated elements from the previous and not very well tbh.

- It turns out that Mahalik Phifer (Anthony Anderson) and CJ Iz (Kevin Hart) had sex with each between movies.

- Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex, Leslie Nielsen and Edward Moss reprised their roles from the previous movie as well. However Carmen Electra and Chris Elliott played new characters. James Earl Jones did the narration. Dr Phil McGraw also appeared.

- Standout music: Pitbull Daycare's You Make Me Feel So Dead.

- Chronology: A few years since the events of the third movie.

Definitely the weakest of the bunch. Scary Movie 4 showed signs of fatigue but it was around this point, this subgenre had been overstretched and was becoming less funny as a result. Still, there's one more to go.

Rating: 5 out of 10