Not having seen Scary Movie or Scary Move 2, the thing that Scary Movie 3 reminds me of most is The Naked Gun. Except that Scary Movie 3 is more extreme in its gags, more slapstick, crasser, and not nearly as funny.

Though the similarity to The Naked Gun is obvious considering they are both by director David Zucker, Scary Movie 3 is also reminiscent of Hot Shots! or Mel Brooks films in its parody of other films such as Signs, The Ring and 8 Mile with scenes from both The Matrix, The Matrix Reloaded and others. That’s a lot of italics.

To further remind us of Hot Shots!, Charlie Sheen plays Tom, who has found his crops have been flattened by aliens. Meanwhile, his younger brother George (Simon Rex), is trying to gain respect as a white rapper while he dates Cindy (Anna Faris), a woman who has discovered a tape that shows you a ring and kills you a week later.

Scary Movie 3 moves between the three stories, eventually bringing them together while mocking and imitating scenes from the original films as often as possible. Then, to further remind us of The Naked Gun, Leslie Neilsen plays an unfunny president of the United States.

The gags are hit and miss, usually miss. But they come at such rapid fire, there’s always something to keep you from laughing. Actually, humor the likes of Scary Move 3 is probably going to be determined by your current mood than anything else. I can see myself not laughing at all or laughing hysterically from beginning to end depending on how late at night it is. Much like movies that actually are scary, Scary Movie 3 is probably best seen very late at night.

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