The "Scary Movie" franchise has gone through many changes. While the first two films dealt primarily with spoofing popular horror films, they also had the raunchy humor that the Wayon brothers brought to them. When Zucker (part of the team that created the granddaddy of all spoof films, "Airplane," took over for part three, he toned down the sex and language and included other film genre's. Sadly, with "Scary Movie 4," the funnier bits are from films that really have nothing to do with the story.

The film starts off with a great take off of "Saw," pitting Shaquille O'Neal against Dr. Phil. Both cameo performers have fun with their characters, and it's a shame that the others in the cast aren't as engaging. In a matter of minutes, Part 3 stars Charlie Sheen and Sebestian Fox come and go, making way for Bierko in the Tom Cruise role from "War of the Worlds." Sadly, "War of the Worlds" is really not a great film to find anything funny in, and the filmmakers don't. However, I will say that the special effects (including a huge Tr-i'POD) are pretty impressive. Horror film "The Grudge" is also a main part of the story, complete with the spooky kid and even an appearance from Bill Pullman. Other parodies of "Brokeback Mountain" and "Million Dollar Baby" seemed forced, though give credit to Mike Tyson for wearing a wig in the ring and biting the ears off of fans sitting ringside. Leslie Nielsen shows up as an obvious George W. Bush character, right down to worrying about the ending of a children's book while constantly being told that the country is under attack. A drawn out parody of "The Village" seems almost redundant, as the original film wasn't that great anyway. Quick jabs at Tom Cruise jumping on Oprah's couch and Michael Jackson offering to protect the children are funny, but they really aren't needed here.

A film with more chuckles then guffaws, hopefully the producers will settle on better movies to make fun of next time around. On a scale of zero to four stars, I give "Scary Movie 4"