Scream + The Matrix = Scary Movie

Most of the plot is identical to the one in Scream. In the opening scene, a young coed (Carmen Electra subbing for Drew Barrymore) is stalked by a masked killer while making popcorn. She tries to escape him, but he chases her across the front yard. For comedic effect, Electra strips down to her underwear and runs slow-motion through a sprinkler as she flees for her life. After her murder, the killer begins targeting high school student Cindy (Anna Feris). He makes threatening phone calls and leaves little notes on her desk at school which read "I know what you did last summer!" Of course, one year prior, Cindy and her friends accidentally mowed down a pedestrian while joyriding. They dumped the body in the river. Now she suspects that the guy is not dead at all, but alive and seeking revenge.

A vast majority of scenes come straight out of Scream, as do many of the little details. Remember Henry Winkler's turn as the principal in Scream? In this film, the principal is played by another 70's TV icon - David L. Lander (a.k.a. "Squiggy"). The infamous moment in which Rose McGowan gets crushed in the garage door is also spoofed, as are the antics of the bumbling police deputy (in this case, a mentally retarded young man named "Officer Doofy") and the obnoxious reporter (played here by Cheri Oteri). I wish I could explain the parody of Scream's sex scene between the heroine and her boyfriend, but it's not quite fit for print.

Then again, neither are most of the gags in Scary Movie. Co-written and directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans (and featuring his brothers and co-writers Shawn and Marlon), the film finds originality in the outrageous. This is not merely a collection of silly jokes; it's a collection of dirty silly jokes. The comedy is politically incorrect and thoroughly disgusting. In addition to the usual gags about sex and bodily functions, Scary Movie pokes fun at the drug culture, the media, and racism. The Wayans clan takes the same no-holds-barred approach they took on their groundbreaking TV show "In Living Color" as well as in their gangsta spoof Don't Be A Menace To South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood. I think they were smart to pump the humor up a notch; rather than going for the obvious, they keep surprising you with the jokes.

Consequently, I laughed loud and hard. The ante for this kind of comedy has been upped in recent years, thanks to the success of films like There's Something About Mary and American Pie. Scary Movie raises the bar yet again with humor that often skirts the boundaries of an NC-17 rating. Although the obvious intention is to make fun of horror movies, my suspicion is that Wayans wanted to poke fun at the exploitive nature of such films as well. Cheap shocks are part and parcel of horror movies - even the good ones. By relentlessly tossing grossout jokes at the audience, Wayans is almost mocking our desire to be shocked.

I don't believe the approach is intended to be scornful; you have to be smart about pop culture to get most of these jokes. If you aren't in tune, you'll miss the spoofs of The Usual Suspects, The Matrix, those "Wassuup?" beer commercials, and more. I think Wayans and his co-writers also expect the crowd to be intelligent about the movie's occasional political satire. There's a fake movie trailer for "Amistad 2" that compares its box office performance to that of another movie about a disastrous voyage, and a great bit about an African-American news channel reporting on the murders ("Our top story tonight: white folks are dead and we're getting the f--- out of here!" says the reporter).

If I have perhaps analyzed the comedic style of Scary Movie more than such a lightweight comedy warrants, it's only because I often try to figure out what makes me laugh and why. Scary Movie is little more than an excuse for sick jokes and movie parodies. Some of the targets are too easy (the Wayans family has always seemed to revel in the broadest possible stereotypes of gays). Most of the film is crude and offensive. Perhaps all the analysis in the world is useless; I laughed as I watched it. And I suppose that, in the end, this is all that really matters. I can wonder if I've become a sick degenerate for liking this stuff later on.

( out of four)

Scary Movie is rated R for strong crude sexual humor, language, drug use and violence. The running time is 1 hour and 26 minutes.