Starring Anna Faris, Marlon Wayans, Shawn Wayans, Shannon Elizabeth, Regina Hall, Cheri Oteri, Jon Abrahams, Lochlyn Munro, Carmen Electra, Dave Sheridan, Kurt Fuller. Directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans. If you come expecting a plot, you've got to be kidding. Like Airplane and Naked Gun, the plot is mostly nonsensical, stolen from the films they are parodying. The primary plot is taken from Scream, leaving intact the opening Drew Barrymore sequence, and using some of the exact same dialogue in that scene and others. Secondarily, several sequences of I Know What You Did Last Summer are used, and like the source film, they are among the weakest scenes in this movie. Other scenes use moments from The Matrix, Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense, American Pie, and even The Usual Suspects, plus other teen flicks. And thanks to the trend caused by the over-hyped There's Something About Mary, there is an overabundance of gross-out humour, which works only occasionally. The strongest moments involve a running innuendo about the sexual preference of Shawn Wayans character Ray, and it's nicely twisted at the end of the film. There is plenty of racial humour that could only be done safely by a black director, and loads of sexual innuendo, but oddly, no nudity. Any violence is of a cartoon nature and intentionally fake looking. Carmen Electra plays Drew (as in Barrymore) and like Drew did in Scream, she leaves very early. This is a good thing, since bouncing around in her undies is the high point of her acting skills. Dave Sheridan's Doofy (as in Dewey from Scream) gets annoying very quickly and consistently drags the film when he appears, although his vacuum gag isn't bad. Coming off best are both Wayan brothers, Marlon as the spaced-out druggy Shorty and Shawn as the disco and shopping loving football jock. Newcomer Farris projects the appropriate wide-eyed naive quality as Cindy (as in Sydney from Scream). Shannon Elizabeth is actually quite good as the cold beauty queen, especially funny in her dying scene. Veteran character actor Kurt Fuller as the Sheriff is quite good playing against type as the kinky, foul-mouthed sheriff. One of the problems is the film is parodying Scream, which itself was a parody of horror flicks. And despite Scary Movie having its hilarious moments, Scream is a much cleverer and more entertaining movie. Scary Movie will appeal to the teen audience (especially guys), as evidenced by its amazing box office but for anyone older than 30, you've been warned. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page