Author: Nobody
Date: 9/1/00
Rating: 8.2
Movie Rating: R
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Scary Movie has evidently been a huge hit. However, this probably has more to do with the advertising agency than the director. Don't get me wrong. Scary Movie was a funny movie. It had plenty of great scenes and running jokes, from the ambiguously gay(?) football jock to the inevitable Matrix Parody. Of course, the Matrix Parody has all the originally of a guy getting kicked in the balls on 'America's Funniest Home Videos' by now, but it's an exception. Sort of.
The problems with Scary Movie were twofold. For one thing, their ad agency was too good, so you were eventually a little disappointed, even though the movie was definitely above average. The second was that Scary Movie was (for the most part) a parody of Scream.
Parodies work best when they exploit things that take themselves too seriously. Spaceballs is a prime example of this (and if you haven't seen it, do so. Now. Before I hunt you down and kill your fish). Another good source of parody are old or famous stories that everyone knows, like as in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Scream wasn't either of these; it was practically a parody itself.
Therefore, Scary Movie's best material is in the side plots and details that have nothing to do with Scream (or 'I Know What You Did Last Summer,' or The Matrix). Thankfully, there's still enough of those to make the movie worth your time.