SCARY MOVIE 2
Released: July 4, 2001
Keenen Ivory Wayans returns with a sequel to the popular parody of the horror film genre. To be precise, not merely horror films are given attention here - even James Cameron's sinking boat flick "Titanic" gets lampooned. Despite the fact jokes are embarrassingly childish and the punch lines are easily figured out well before they happen, "Scary Movie 2" succeeds as a sub-"Airplane"/"Naked Gun" type comedy but still manages to rise above "Loaded Weapon 1" territory - but just barely. The sequel reunites many from the first film including Anna Feris, Marlon and Shawn Wayans who do their best in a film that really needn't have been made. The funniest parts fall within the first third of the movie and these scenes involve James Woods, inexplicably cast as priest in the role of the Max von Sydow character from "The Exorcist". Former Conan O'Brien sidekick Andy Richter plays the Woods character's assistant and there are many other notable names co-starring here - including Tori Spelling, Chris Elliot (his scenes are easily the second funniest parts of the movie), Tim Curry, Natasha Lyonne, Beetlejuice (of Howard Stern "fame"), Veronica Cartwright and Richard Moll as the Hell House Ghost. This clearly is not intended as anything other than a sort of funny time killer. To even compare it to a Pauly Shore movie is already giving "Scary Movie 2" more props than it deserves but go see it as a matinee or rent it for the James Woods and Chris Elliot scenes...
100 Minutes
Dimension/Miramax/Buena Vista