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Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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It's been more than 25 years since Scary Movie showed up to lampoon horror movie tropes. Since then, it's been sequelized, passed from creator to creator, and now rebooted as a legacy sequel, led by the Wayans brothers, who started it all. I'm Stephen Thompson, and today we are talking about Scary Movie on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.
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Right now, we are living through some of the most tumultuous political times our country has ever known. I'm David Remnick, and each week on The New Yorker Radio Hour, I'll try to make sense of what's happening alongside politicians and thinkers like Cory Booker, Nancy Pelosi, Liz Cheney, and so many more. That's all on The New Yorker Radio Hour, wherever you listen to podcasts.
Joining me today is NPR producer J.C. Howard. Hey, J.C.
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Chapter 2: What is the history of the Scary Movie franchise?
Hello, hello. Also with us is Ronald Young Jr. He's the host of the film and television review podcast Leaving the Theater. Hey, Ronald. Hello, Stephen. Also with us is freelance music and culture journalist Rihanna Cruz. Hey, Rihanna. Wazzup.
Oh, my God.
There is a wazzup joke in this movie. Yeah, there is. Ripped from the cultural headlines.
So relevant. It's astonishingly relevant.
Okay.
So, the original Scary Movie came out in 2000 as a parody of horror franchises like Scream and I Know What You Did Last Summer. Since then, Scary Movie has followed a trajectory familiar to fans of the movies it was originally spoofing. It got sequels, then it got passed to different directors and writers, and then it fizzled out entirely.
Now Scary Movie is getting a reboot slash legacy sequel, which is itself a parody of other reboots slash legacy sequels. The Wayans brothers are back on board. Many, many Wayanses pop up in the cast, led by Marlon and Sean. Other familiar faces return as well, including Anna Faris and Regina Hall, while a new generation turns up to face the return of the dreaded Ghostface. It's in theaters now.
Rihanna Cruz, I'm going to start with you. What did you think of Scary Movie?
All right. I'll put it simply. Is it a good movie? Debatable. That's what we're here to do. Why don't you tell us? Do we expect any scary movie to be a good movie, though? I would say no. And I think because of that, the bar was on the floor and I had fun. You know, I love the scary movie franchise personally. I love parody movies.
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Chapter 3: How does the new Scary Movie parody legacy sequels?
And there were a few times in which they're making commentary about race, about gender, about queerness. And I want to know that what they actually think of these things. And I'm not actually getting that. I'm getting just very sophomoric jokes. So it was okay, but it could have been good. Steven, this could have been a great film, and they just didn't want to do it.
All the ingredients were there.
I'm really glad, Ronald, that you made that last point about kind of the absence of point of view that comes through in a lot of these references. I mean, my issue with these movies in general, and with a lot of kind of post-Naked Gun spoofing,
franchises of which this is one of many one of my biggest issues with them is that they tend to give you references in lieu of jokes yes steven and there's and there's a bit here at one point there's like a whole bit where it's like the one character has like a drug stash and oh no we gave the drug stash to the kids for halloween and then and then it's like all the kids are on drugs ha ha ha and i'm like okay well here's where you're gonna get your weapons reference right yeah
And the kids are running around like the kids in weapons. And one of them says six, seven. And that's the joke.
I laughed, Steven.
Rihanna, God bless you. I'm so glad.
I laughed. I did not. I'm laughing at Steven saying six, seven. I'm not laughing at the rest.
And so to me, so much of it was just like, oh, here's where they're going to do the parody of this. Oh, that church looks like the church in Sinners. Here we go. And so to me, I wanted more jokes. Where this film worked for me somewhat, I mean, naturally, this is going to be a meta property, right? Like, meta is in this film's bones. This is a parody of a meta satire.
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Chapter 4: What are the audience's initial reactions to the new Scary Movie?
And some of the jokes that they're able to work in about that did work for me. There were a couple of kind of fun running jokes that were referencing horror movie tropes. There's a pretty, I thought, pretty funny bit where the love interest who is very, very heavily telegraphed to be the killer. I thought some of that stuff was pretty funny.
But to me, getting back to what Ronald said, I just thought so many of the jokes were so toothless. Yeah. There's this vibe that runs through it and it runs through the film. It runs through the marketing of the film. That's very like, they're back and cancel culture and better watch out. But then it doesn't have anything to say.
Rihanna alluded to kind of some transphobia and I definitely got transphobic vibes off of it. But it mostly is just like, here's a trans character. Right.
And that's the joke. Like, that's the comedy that this person exists, which is kind of the only place in the movie where I was like, I don't really know about that.
Chapter 5: What critiques do the panelists have about the humor in the film?
I agree. And obviously, like, I don't want it to come from a point of view that is worse or that is actively hostile, but it's it's just doesn't have anything to say. And so there's like a scene set in a subway that's full of kind of these commentaries on like Karen's and stuff like that. And again, that just feels so dated. Yeah. To me, this franchise and this film just don't really land for me.
And some of this, I think, is generational. The original Scary Movie came out when I was in my mid to late 20s. And I grew up on Airplane and The Naked Gun and Hot Shots Part Deux. That kind of original Zucker era of spoofs. David Zucker famously kind of took over this franchise for a while and piloted it into the ground.
Pun intended.
Yes, exactly. For me, this film, if you are notionally open to this franchise, if you have enjoyed these movies, either have a communal experience in the theater with lots and lots of other people, or either watch it at 2 o'clock in the afternoon or 2 o'clock in the morning in a state of mind to enjoy it.
Ah, I get what you're saying.
A shorty state of mind, if you will.
Yeah.
I went in with as open a mind as possible. I really, really, really came in ready to laugh. And I only chuckled lightly.
I was yucking it up in there. I got to be honest. I was having a good time. I wish I'd seen this with you. I know. Yeah. I was having a really good time.
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Chapter 6: How does nostalgia play a role in the film's reception?
I like... I think a lot of the references for me felt dated, but I don't know what they could have done to bring it up to speed, you know, without the movie becoming corny.
I don't know. Exactly to your point, Stephen, it might as well have been a series of sketches. This was a sketch comedy bit that like was very loosely woven together. But when they found something that they thought they could have fun with,
I think that they showed a deep knowledge and appreciation, like people who have watched Get Out and Sinners over and over and over and over again and found something that they thought was funny and said, hey, let's put this out there and see if other people laugh.
I think we're all coming down in variations on the same place, which is if this is what you're into, here it is.
Mm-hmm. The movie comments on that, though. The movie even makes a joke like, this is not a smart comedy. And I do think we're in a smart comedy epidemic where you go to the movies and you don't laugh. I don't know. Comedies that aren't designed to make people laugh, they're just situationally funny. And the fact that I went to the theater and laughed my ass off, that says something.
That's a testament. I also think we put more thought into this review than they did into writing this movie. Yeah. the most robust panel I've been a part of.
All right. Well, I think that's an excellent place to leave it. Ronald Young Jr., Rihanna Cruz, J.C. Howard, thanks so much for being here. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having me. You're welcome, Stephen. This episode was produced by Hafsah Fathima, Liz Metzger, and Mike Katzeff, and edited by our showrunner, Jessica Reedy. Hello Come In provides our theme music.
Thank you for listening to Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR. I'm Stephen Thompson, and we will see you all next time.
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