Scary Movie 4 *½

Scary Movie 4
Directed by David Zucker. Starring Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Anthony Anderson, and Leslie Nielsen. Rated PG-13.

I suppose it was inevitable. After the surprising success of the weak Scary Movie 3, the folks over at Dimension Films commissioned yet another installment in the popular comedy franchise with a whole new batch of shameless spoofs to go along with it. This time around, dimwitted Cindy Campbell (Anna Farris, in a role that will eventually put her career to death) has to ward off a ghost boy that is haunting her and a group of alien Tr-iPods that want to destroy the world. Going along with her are crazy, and seemingly immortal, Brenda Meeks (Regina Hall) and clueless Tom Ryan (Craig Bierko). I really wish the Wayans Brothers would return to the series because this is probably the weakest and least amusing entry in the series yet. Not that it was fantastic when they were involved, but at least it was funny. Only two scenes in Scary Movie 4 really made me laugh, one being the Saw spoof featuring Dr. Phil and Shaq, and the other being the great parody of Tom Cruise's stunt on Oprah. I don't recommend this to anyone except die-hard fans of the series. Before they decide to greenlight Scary Movie 5, Dimension needs to either bring back the Wayans Brothers or at least make it R-rated!