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 SCARY MOVIE 3 is rated PG-13 and the Wayanses have been replaced by David Zucker, director of both wildly funny comedy classics (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.