Scary Movie 4 (DVD)

Scary Movie 4 is dumb. No doubt about it. It's crass, and totally irrelevant, too. Even the filmmakers admit that on the DVD's commentary track.

But so what? Does every movie have to be Citizen Kane or Schindler's List? As far as the Scary Movie film franchise goes, Scary Movie 4 is one of the best and is superior to Scary Movie 3. It's a flippant farce, lampooning everything from some box-office boffos in the horror and sci-fi genres (War of the Worlds, The Grudge, Saw 2), as well as movies that were simply big hits (Brokeback Mountain, Million Dollar Baby). It also takes on pop culture (rapper-chic, Tom Cruise's couch dance in Oprah's show) and basically skewers anything in its path.

The jokes aren't all that funny and the zeitgeist-centric movie is already dated, but the likable actors add a lot to the viewing experience — Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Cloris Leachman and Craig Beirko are all genuinely talented comedic actors and some of the set-ups are pretty amusing (the iPod/tripod scene never fails to make me chuckle). Of course, there are also some cringe-inducing moments for those of us who despise scatological humor, but I've seen worse.

The DVD is packed with additional release material which is really unnecessary for a film that's this inconsequential, but at least it goes beyond your usual EPK (electronic press kit) "making-of" featurettes.

·        Filmmaker's commentary – Director David Zucker is his usual irreverent self, but he does seem to have genuinely had fun making this film. Producer Robert K. Weiss and co-writer Craig Mazin add some additional zeal and buffoonery to the proceedings.

·        Deleted and extended scenes with commentary — I loved the extended iPod/tripod scenes (naturally!) but most of them are pretty extraneous.

·        The Man Behind the Laugh: David Zucker featurette — a look at (and a listen to) the mirthful cackle of the director. It's infectious, and it shows as the actors frequently burst into guffaws, just watching him.

·        Zany Spoof Humor: Zucker Style featurette — A look at Zucker's career, dating back to the pre-Airplane! days, which shows just how little his sense of humor has evolved from then to now. The unarguable gist is, 'If it's not broke don't fix it'.

·        Interviewer's Worst Nightmare featurette — This one is pretty funny. The EPK interviewer, whose job it is to get soundbites on set for use on TV online, and radio, is given a hard time by all the actors, who've apparently conspired in advance to razz her and not answer her questions.

·        The Visual Effects of Scary Movie 4 featurette

·        The Youngbloodz featurette

·        Rappers and Actors featurette

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Reviewed by Staci Layne Wilson