SCARY MOVIE 2 (2001)

CAST: Anna Faris, Shawn Wayans, Regina Hall, Marlon Wayans, Chris Elliot, David Cross, Richard Moll, Tori Spelling, Christopher Masterson, Natasha Lyonne, James Woods, Tim Curry, Andy Richter, James DeBello, Kathleen Robertson, Veronica Cartwright, Beetlejuice

Directed By: Keenan Ivory Wayans
Written By: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Alyson Fouse, Dave Polsky, Craig Wayans, Michael Anthony Snowden, Greg Grabianski
Based On Characters By: Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Buddy Johnson, Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer, Phil Beauman
Cinematography By: Steven Bernstein
Editor: Tom Nordberg, Richard Pearson & Peter Teschner

To say this film was a disappointment would be a understatement now I didn’t love the first scary movie but I liked it and enjoyed it. Despite a few reservations and this film unfortunately this film doesn’t even come close to the quality of the original. It feels like a movie just based on squeezing some more dollars out of a franchise. I mean it has 7 writers which is never a good sign. That many cooks working on the same dish. I would bother telling you the storyline but as it seems non existent and the film doesn’t follow it. It would be a waste of time.

The main problem with recent spoof films and this one in particular is to stay on subject and still have a main plot. This film brings jokes about the subject it is spoofing but it has no real main storyline it starts off with one then seems to forget it and seems too busy with the jokes and spoofing more modern day people and events then actual scary movies which is also the problem with comedies like MADTV and the wayans own IN LIVING COLOR while both are legendary and hilarious they won’t age gracefully as all of there comedy are based on modern celebrities and events that 10 – 20 years from now audiences will be scratching there heads to understand the jokes or if they weren’t around when the film was made will be wondering who they are talking about.

Tori spelling is in this movie and was supposed to be a small comeback but I wonder if it was just stunt casting because she barely makes a mark in a role almost any actress could have played. Most of the cast reprises there roles from the first film even the ones who were killed return with hardly any explination. The bad thing about this movie is with all the talent involved it should have been funny or at least funnier but it’s not. There is a chuckle here and there but as a whole I can’t say it is successfully funny the jokes just seem stale.

I also had one of many bad experiences seeing this film in a theater I had some woman sit next to me who i didn’t know and our seats while separate were connected together and all through the movie she laughed loudly at everything even things I thought were funny I would start to laugh and then so would she so hard that she drained whatever I found funny about it out. So that I would pray no more jokes would come to make her almost have a coronary. I have since seen the film at home and still have the same opinion of it that I had that day.

The opening sketch was supposed to have Marlon Brando in a way spoof the exorcist but when he got to sick to do the role he was replaced by James Woods now if Brando would have done it. He is the only thing that would have made this movie noteworthy. This was also the last semi decent Scary Movie Sequel all after this one are horrible.

Bottom line if you liked the first one you will probably like this one.

GRADE: D