Monday, May 6, 2013 | 4:10 a.m.
Hi, (not you?) | Member Center | Sign Out
Find fun things to doin the Atlanta, GA area
Updated: 2:11 p.m. Friday, April 12, 2013 | Posted: 2:10 p.m. Friday, April 12, 2013
By FRANK SCHECK
The Associated Press
LOS ANGELES —
You have to at least give "Scary Movie 5" points for timeliness. This latest installment of the horror movie spoof franchise manages to deliver parodies of movies as recent as last week's "Evil Dead" remake, not to mention one that hasn't even been made yet ("Fifty Shades of Gray"). But those points are immediately subtracted by the fact that this Wayans-less installment doesn't manage to wrest a single laugh from any one of them.
Directed by Malcolm D. Lee and co-written and produced by the venerable David Zucker ("Airplane," ''The Naked Gun"), it demonstrates that the latter has definitely lost his comic mojo. The film, which opened without being press-screened, unspooled to an opening day audience that produced a deafening silence.
If you've seen the trailer, you've already seen the most notorious segment, in which Charlie Sheen and Lindsay Lohan enthusiastically — if sadly — make fun of their naughty personas in a clownish opening sex sequence riffing on the "Paranormal Activity" series. It's pretty much all downhill from there.
The filmmakers' desperation is evident from the fact that a good chunk of the running time is devoted to spoofing the recent Jessica Chastain-starrer "Mama." While that film was indeed a sleeper hit, it hardly seems memorable enough to warrant such sustained treatment, and indeed the comic pay-offs are nil.
Otherwise, it's mostly a jumbled-together collection of sketches riffing on a disparate group of films including "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," ''Inception," ''Cabin in the Woods," ''Paranormal Activity" and its sequels and even "Black Swan." Resembling the sort of lame bits relegated to the closing minutes of "Saturday Night Live" when airtime must be filled and featuring narration by a Morgan Freeman sound-alike, their collective lameness is numbing.
Ashley Tisdale and Simon Rex anchor the film's loose plotline mashing together parodies of "Mama" and "Black Swan," and while both performers are certainly game, neither possesses the comic chops necessary to keep the proceedings afloat. The rest of the cast consists largely of major and minor celebrities popping in for silly cameos, including Heather Locklear, Terry Crews, Mike Tyson, Snoop Dogg, Katt Williams, Jerry O'Connell, Usher and others too numerous to mention. Only Molly Shannon — playing a demented, accident-prone ballerina — manages to impress with her sheer determination to be funny, even if she never quite succeeds.
Director Lee periodically speeds up the film to produce a comic effect, although sadly not enough to reduce its seemingly interminable 85-minute running time. The inevitable outtakes during the closing credits indicate that the performers, at least, managed to get some laughs out of the experience.
"Scary Movie 5," a Dimension release, is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language, some drug material, partial nudity, comic violence and gore. Running time: 85 minutes.
___
Motion Picture Association of America rating definition for PG-13: Parents strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
Copyright The Associated Press
© 2013 Cox Media Group. By using this website,
you accept the terms of our Visitor Agreement and Privacy Policy, and understand your options regarding Ad Choices
.
Already have an account? Sign In
{* #registrationForm *} {* traditionalRegistration_displayName *} {* traditionalRegistration_emailAddress *} {* traditionalRegistration_password *} {* traditionalRegistration_passwordConfirm *}Already have an account? Sign In
{* #registrationFormBlank *} {* registration_firstName *} {* registration_lastName *} {* traditionalRegistration_displayName *} {* traditionalRegistration_emailAddressBlank *} {* registration_birthday *} {* registration_gender *} {* registration_postalZip *} {* traditionalRegistration_passwordBlank *} {* traditionalRegistration_passwordConfirmBlank *} {* agreeToTerms *}We have sent you a confirmation email. Please check your email and click on the link to activate your account.
We look forward to seeing you frequently. Visit us and sign in to update your profile, receive the latest news and keep up to date with mobile alerts.
Don't worry, it happens. We'll send you a link to create a new password.
{* #forgotPasswordForm *} {* forgotPassword_emailAddress *}We have sent you an email with a link to change your password.
We've sent an email with instructions to create a new password. Your existing password has not been changed.
To sign in you must verify your email address. Fill out the form below and we'll send you an email to verify.
{* #resendVerificationForm *} {* resendVerification_emailAddress *}Check your email for a link to verify your email address.




You're Almost Done!
Select a display name and password
{* #socialRegistrationForm *} {* socialRegistration_displayName *} {* socialRegistration_emailAddress *} {* traditionalRegistration_password *} {* traditionalRegistration_passwordConfirm *}Tell us about yourself
{* registration_firstName *} {* registration_lastName *} {* registration_postalZip *} {* registration_birthday *} {* registration_gender *} {* agreeToTerms *}