Scary Movie 3 (2003)

User Rating:

5.4/10   

Director:

David Zucker

Writers (WGA):

Craig Mazin (written by) and
Pat Proft (written by) ...

Release Date:

24 October 2003 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Tagline:

Reload for a third shot

Plot:

In the third installment of the Scary Movie franchise, Cindy has to investigate mysterious crop circles and video tapes, and help the President in preventing an alien invasion.

Plot Keywords:

Crop Circle | Farm | Videotape | Thrown Through Window | Horror Spoof

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. July 19	7:00 PM	COMEDY
Mon. July 20	5:00 PM	COMEDY

Cast

Pamela Anderson	...	Becca
Jenny McCarthy	...	Kate
Marny Eng	...	Tabitha
Charlie Sheen	...	Tom
Simon Rex	...	George
Jianna Ballard	...	Sue
Jeremy Piven	...	Ross Giggins
Anna Faris	...	Cindy
Timothy Stack	...	Carson Ward (as Tim Stack)
Elaine Klimaszewski	...	Elaine
Diane Klimaszewski	...	Diane
Camryn Manheim	...	Trooper Champlin
Drew Mikuska	...	Cody
Regina Hall	...	Brenda Meeks
Darrell Hammond	...	Father Muldoon

Also Known As:

Film de peur 3 (Canada: French title)
Scary Movie 3.5 (USA) (DVD box title)
Scary Movie 3: Episode I - Lord of the Brooms (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for pervasive crude and sexual humor, language, comic violence and drug references.

Runtime:

84 min

Country:

USA | Canada

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:14A (Alberta/British Columbia/Manitoba/Ontario) (Canadian Home Video rating) | Canada:G (Quebec) | USA:Unrated (unrated DVD version) | Malaysia:(Banned) | Iceland:10 | Netherlands:6 | Malaysia:U (DVD) | Argentina:Atp | Australia:M | Brazil:14 | Chile:14 | Finland:K-15 | Germany:12 | Hong Kong:IIB | Ireland:15 | Italy:T | Japan:PG-12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Philippines:R-13 | Singapore:NC-16 | South Korea:18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:14 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:14 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:14 (canton of the Grisons) | UK:15 | USA:PG-13 (NO. 39360) | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Lions Gate Film Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Dimension Films

Trivia:

The "And twins!" sequence is a parody of a 2003 ad campaign by Coors Light beer. Diane Klimaszewski and Elaine Klimaszewski reprise their roles as the Coors Light Twins from the ads.

Goofs:

Continuity: Large ice-cream container rotates 90 degrees clockwise after being placed on the counter.

Quotes:

[President Harris grabs a kid with braces]
President Harris: Good God, the small ones have metal teeth! Jerry's Kids, my ass.
[headbutts the kid]

Movie Connections:

Featured in Comedy Central Roast of Pamela Anderson (2005) (TV)

Soundtrack:

George's Rap

Scary Movie 3!

Scary Movie 3 is largely a spoof of five films, The Ring (2002), Signs (2002), 8 Mile (2002) and to a lesser extent, The Matrix (1999) and The Matrix Reloaded (2003). It begins with a spoof of the first scene from The Ring, then cuts to Tom's (Charlie Sheen) discovery of the crop circles on his farm ala Signs. As a bridge between the stories, Cindy Campbell (Anna Farris) is a television news reporter who is doing a story on the crop circles, and who is the guardian of a young psychic boy, Cody (Drew Mikuska), similar to Aidan of The Ring. The two stories turn out to be intimately connected. Tom's brother, George (Simon Rex) is a white rapper, ala Eminem in 8 Mile, and he strikes up a romance with Campbell. Meanwhile, President Harris (Leslie Nielsen) also becomes involved as the security of the country is threatened.

I used to make it a point to not read any other reviews before I wrote my own, but recently, I've become curious when I watch a film I really enjoy, like Scary Movie 3, that many other people seemed to dislike. I find it informative to read the negative reviews to try to figure out why people dislike the film.

The negative reviews for Scary Movie 3 weren't very helpful. The most popular complaints seem to be that the trailer ruined the film by "giving away the good parts" and that the film has fun at the expense of some people's sacred cows. Additionally, many people made a comment to the effect that you'd only enjoy the film if you're, say, 13 or under.

I never watch trailers before I see a film any longer. I have also had trailers ruin many films for me in the past, so I just stopped watching them; I recommend that you do the same. If you don't know already, think about commonalities in the films you tend to like. Get an idea for the genres, directors, actors and so on that you usually enjoy. That's the only guide you really need to determine if you should see a film. It's not a guarantee, but what is? I actually look away when trailers appear on screen before the feature when I'm watching a film in the theater, and I try to mentally block out the sound. It's pretty easy to do, as trailers tend to be heavier on sound effects than dialogue. If trailers appear on television, I quickly change the channel. At any rate, it doesn't make the film you're considering any worse just because you watched a trailer first. Scary Movie 3 isn't bad because the trailer ruined it for you.

Next, it's not a good idea to watch these kinds of comedies (we might call them "absurdist comedies", or "outrageous comedies") if you have any sacred cows--that is, anything that you feel one should not joke about, or that one could go too far in joking about. I don't see it as the film's fault if you haven't analyzed yourself and/or if you do not research the kinds of films you're considering viewing so that you don't expose yourself to something that you're going to consider offensive. If you're sensitive about certain things then you need to learn how to avoid them. If you're allergic to nuts or shellfish, you're going to be careful to not eat anything containing nuts or shellfish, right? It's not the chef's fault.

Finally, I'm definitely older than 13--I'm in my late 30s, and I loved Scary Movie 3. I came very close to giving it a 10 out of 10--it was at that score until the climax, which I felt unfortunately lost a bit of the comic momentum that preceded it, and which arrived a bit too soon for my tastes (I prefer longer films).

It helps to be familiar with the films being spoofed. Believe it or not a lot of the jokes are fairly subtle jabs at elements of the source material--for example, the pillow fight of the opening scene, which has connections to the almost lesbian subtext of the same scene in the original Japanese version of The Ring, Ringu (1998); or the character and camera "spins" when Tom first exits his farmhouse, which pokes fun at the stylistic cinematography of Signs. There are also many quicker references to other films. These will have far less payoff if you're not familiar with the source material. For example, during the climax of Scary Movie 3, there's not only a reference to the Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974), but also the climax of Motel Hell (1980), which features an infamous chainsaw "duel".

There is a stylistic difference between the first two Scary Movies and this one, which is undoubtedly correlated to the change in directors. Rather than the Wayans Brothers, David Zucker directs here. Zucker is the exclamatory wiz who also helmed Airplane! (1980), Top Secret! (1984), and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988). Scary Movie 3 is much more in the vein of Zucker's previous work than the other Scary Movies. I can't imagine why someone would like the one style and not the other, but if so, that might help you decide which Scary Movies to see, if any.

Finally, there were also some complaints over the plot of this film, especially the combination of such seemingly disparate plots from the source material. It's important to remember that this is absurdist comedy, with an emphasis on absurd. The crazy segues from one plot to the other, with them meeting in the middle thanks to Cindy, President Harris and a number of other crazy devices, was beautifully ridiculous. I want ridiculous when I watch a film like this. That's largely what attracts me to the genre. If you're at all a fan of absurdism, you should find much to enjoy here.