Scary Movie 3 (PG-13, 2003)

In this third installment of the parody series, an alien invasion connected to a videotape and some crop circles open the door for a series of riffs on a couple of dozen movies, including Signs, The Ring, 8 Mile, and The Matrix. Some of the jokes come from juxtaposing two pop culture references, as when American Idol's Simon Cowell critiques an 8 Mile-inspired rap performance, and Pamela Anderson finds a videotape inspired by The Ring even scarier than the infamous video featuring her private moments with then-husband Tommy Lee. More of the humor comes from gross physical harm or from wildly inappropriate comments or behavior in front of children. One child is hit by a car, repeatedly beaten and injured, molested by a priest, and told about his mother's substance abuse during pregnancy. A dead body is subjected to violent attempts to bring it back to life, resulting in the severing of its limbs. The rest is that good old comedy staple -- stupidity -- as when a group of heavily armed gangstas show up to fight the aliens but then start arguing over who smudged whose sneakers and gun each other down instead.

The first two Scary Movies, written and directed by the Wayans brothers, were R-rated, cheerfully raunchy, and cheekily politically incorrect parodies of popular movies, including Scream and its sequels. SCARY MOVIE 3 is rated PG-13 and the Wayanses have been replaced by David Zucker, director of both wildly funny comedy classics (Ruthless People and Airplane) and painfully un-funny flops (My Boss's Daughter). This movie is somewhere in the middle, not as good as The Naked Gun series but better than Baseketball.

There are some very funny moments, and Queen Latifah lights up her scenes as a psychic, with the able assistance of Eddie Griffin as her husband. George Carlin is a pleasure in a Matrix-inspired role. Regina Hall brings some snap to the best-friend-destined-to-die-early-on role. But this is a movie that will primarily appeal to those who can get excited about seeing performers like Ja Rule, Ghostface Killah, and Method Man acting silly, especially those who are young enough to get a kick out of the inherent subversiveness of any satire aimed at popular media, without caring too much whether any of the targets are actually hit.

Studio: Dimension
Director: David Zucker
Cast: Anna Faris, Charlie Sheen, Simon Rex
Genre: Comedy
Run time: 90 minutes
Theatrical release: October 24, 2003
DVD release: May 11, 2004
MPAA Rating: PG-13
MPAA explanation: pervasive crude and sexual humor, language, comic violence and drug references