Okay, admittedly, I was never a big fan of the first couple of Scary Movie releases. I've not really been won over by any of the Wayans brothers movies from the past couple of decades. But I knew I'd still have to watch this eventually. I just didn't expect to see it at the cinema. One free ticket and some bad timing, however, and that's just what I ended up doing recently.
I'm sure that everyone else actually wanting to see this film will go to it and have a good time. They won't think of it as the best in the series, but they'll have enough laughs and claim that anyone who didn't enjoy it is just brainwashed nowadays by the "woke-erati", or whatever the latest buzz-word is. Because this film has been advertised as something that will cross every line and upset those who get easily offended. It doesn't even come close to that. It's lazy, self-satisfied, nonsense. Most importantly, it made me laugh only two or three times throughout the entire 96-minute runtime.
I'll do the courtesy of describing a plot, despite the fact that there really isn't one. A killer is back on the scene, and may be aiming to kill off Cindy (Anna Faris) and Brenda (Regina Hall). That's an excuse for everyone else to join the leads, whether it's Shorty (Marlon Wayans), Ray (Shawn Wayans), Doofy (Dave Sheridan), Greg (Lochlyn Munro), or Gale (Cheri Oteri). There are also some younger characters to be put in peril, such as Cindy's daughters, Sara (Olivia Rose Keegan) and Tuesday (Savannah Lee Nassif), and Brenda's children, including the *sarcasm font required here* hilariously-named DEI (Sydney Park).
I'll begrudgingly excuse some of the laziness here. Considering the main slasher movies being targeted by this series, it's appropriate that this instalment gets the gang back together in the laziest and most implausible way. Because that's basically what happened in Scream (2022). It's also fine to have some fun with the newcomers before ensuring that the older stars get their flowers due to them.
What isn't fine is the laziness throughout. While it may not stoop to the levels of the dire Friedberg/Seltzer movies we endured a couple of decades ago, this is painfully unfunny and unimaginative throughout. A spoof of Sinners is an excuse to make many more gags about the not-so-closeted homosexuality of Ray (a joke that was tired by the second movie). A spoof of Get Out is an excuse for some more sex gags, before transitioning into a rare highlight, a well-animated riff on KPop Demon Hunters. Two gags made me laugh, one referencing Candyman and the other referencing the imagery of Weapons. That's it. More should have been done with The Substance, anything would have been better than the horribly smug fan-service moment it delivers, and there are so many other movies that could have been thrown into the mix. But that would show a love for the horror genre, and I don't think the Wayans brothers have any love for the horror genre. According to the third act of this film, as well as a number of gags elsewhere, the Wayans brothers mostly love themselves. They believe themselves to be some kind of comedy film legends, but their filmography doesn't bear that out.
Faris and Hall are people I really like watching in movies. It's a shame that they've spent so much time stuck in this turgid series. At least they help to lessen my pain while I endure them though, which is more than I can say for Marlon Wayans (Shorty is one of the most annoying movie characters in the entire history of the movies, as far as I'm concerned). The younger cast members generally do well as they gamely work with the weak material given to them, and Keegan is particularly enjoyable when being silly. Nobody can do enough to save the film from the director (Michael Tiddes) or writers though (four of the Wayans brothers and Rick Alvarez), who are all pre-occupied with finding the easiest option for anything they mistake for a punchline.
Despite the advertising, there aren't really any lines crossed here. I'd even say that there are some progressive moments, compared to the first movie in the series anyway. Overall, this is a childish attempt to put together a collage of moments that those involved thought would offend those who don't really like these movies anyway. The only people it really offends are those who want their comedy movies to contain enough actual comedy. Others seem to be buying into the hype though, sadly, and I won't be surprised if this ends up being the most financially successful instalment of the series, to date.
3/10
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