Scary Movie Review: The Wayans Brothers Bring the Franchise Back to Life

Scary Movie, Scary Movie 6, whatever you want to call it,one thing is for sure: it was great to see the Wayans family take their franchise back.

I'm not going to lie, I went into this movie with pretty low expectations. I ended up seeing it later than most people, and because it's a parody film, I wasn't expecting anything groundbreaking. But I've always been a fan of the Wayans brothers, and their fingerprints are all over this movie.

The best part of the film for me was seeing so many familiar faces return. From Ray to Shorty—who somehow is rich now and still in high school—the original cast brought back a lot of the energy that made the first films so memorable. Cindy and Brenda are back as well, and honestly, every time the original crew was on screen, I found myself having a good time.

Where the movie lost me a little was with some of the newer characters.

Olivia Rose Keegan, Cameron Scott Roberts, and Savannah Lee Nassif play Sara Campbell, Jack Kirsch, and Tuesday Campbell, and while they all had a few funny moments, none of them really stood out to me. Maybe that's unfair, but in a franchise that has given us so many iconic characters over the years, they felt more like supporting players than characters I was actually invested in.

Ironically, Gregg Wayans and Sydney Park, who play Dei Meeks and Brad Meeks, left a stronger impression on me. The problem is we just didn't get enough of them. By the time I started getting interested in their characters, it didn't really matter because everybody ends up getting taken out by the original core group anyway.

As for the comedy, not every joke landed. That's probably going to be the biggest talking point surrounding this movie. Some jokes completely missed the mark for me, but when they hit, they HIT. There were a handful of moments where I found myself laughing way harder than I expected to.

The movie also looks surprisingly good. The set design and production value are much better than I anticipated for a parody film. You can tell there was some effort put into making the world feel bigger than just a collection of skits.

Now, let's talk about the story or lack thereof.

If I'm being honest, there really isn't much of one. The plot mostly exists to move the characters from one joke to the next. Normally, that would be a bigger criticism, but this is Scary Movie. Nobody is buying a ticket expecting some deep, emotional narrative. People are showing up to laugh, see ridiculous situations unfold, and watch horror movie tropes get roasted.

At the end of the day, Scary Movie isn't a perfect movie. It's messy, some of the jokes don't work, and a few of the new characters never really find their footing. But it's also nowhere near as bad as some people are making it out to be.

If you're a fan of the original films, there's a good chance you'll find something to enjoy here. If you've never been a fan of this style of comedy, this movie probably isn't going to change your mind.

My advice? Go see it and form your own opinion. Comedy is one of the most subjective genres out there. What had me laughing might have somebody else sitting there stone-faced.

For me, it was a fun time, and seeing the Wayans back in control of Scary Movie was worth the ticket price for me.

What did you think?

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• Loved it
• Hated it
• So/So