Review: Scary Movie 2

The quality of Scary Movie 2 can only be measured by the ratio between what jokes work and what jokes don’t.

Scary Movie 2
Photo: Dimension Films

The quality of Scary Movie 2 can only be measured by the ratio between what jokes work and what jokes don’t. We’ve seen most of these gags in the original Scary Movie, from the explosive ejaculatory fluid to the endless ganja references. Scary Movie 2’s seven credited writers have successfully reduced the film to incoherent sketch comedy. The more obscure and absurd the skit the funnier. Alas, though, such moments are few and far between. Coincidentally, the funnier skits usually feature the gruesome butler played by Chris Elliott and the perpetually frightened Black woman played by Regina Hall. Everything else is an insufferable hodgepodge of phallic and scatological humor that’s at once insulting and criminally stupid. From Ghost Busters to The Haunting and beyond, Scary Movie 2 has been tailor-made for those who like to spot film parodies. Natasha Lyonne, Andy Richter and James Woods make out like bandits in the opening scene, a riff on The Exorcist. The trio vomits all over each other for several minutes as if contemplating the sheer terror that follows.

Score: 
 Cast: Anna Faris, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans, Tori Spelling, Christopher Masterson, Regina Hall, James Woods, Andy Richter, Natasha Lyonne, Chris Elliott, Richard Moll, David Cross, Tim Curry  Director: Keenan Ivory Wayans  Screenwriter: Alison Fouse, Greg Grabianski, Dave Polsky, Michael Anthony Snowden, Craig Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Marlon Wayans  Distributor: Dimension Films  Running Time: 95 min  Rating: R  Year: 2001  Buy: Video

Ed Gonzalez

Ed Gonzalez is the co-founder of Slant Magazine. A member of the New York Film Critics Circle, his writing has appeared in The Village Voice, The Los Angeles Times, and other publications.

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