Lots of laughs, but pleeeeeease get your minds out of the gutter!!!

Rating: 7/10 (4 July 2001)

After watching "Scary Movie" I never thought there would be a filthier R-rated movie ever!! But then the sequel came along and...for all those parents who covered their kids eyes during the original, make sure you keep a thick blindfold in handy if you're planning to take the young ones to this filth-fest!
I'm gonna give this movie a mild recommendation, because I did laugh a lot. The first half is hilarious! The opening, I think, is the funniest moment. I don't want to give it away, so I'll just say it's an interesting rendition of the song "Shake That A**." Of course, this is your only chance to see veteran actor James Woods taking an on-screen dump. Who can resist that? Can you believe Marlon Brando actually considered that role initially? It's just refreshing to see a big-time, serious actor humiliate himself like that! So for that: Thank you Keenan, Shawn and Marlon. The film's second half is not as successful, and pretty much sinks to a hit-or-miss level. As I said, Shawn and Marlon (and the many co-writers of the script) didn't once get their minds out of the gutter. So the dirty jokes do get tiresome after a while. Chris Elliot has an obnoxious role as a creepy butler with an underdeveloped hand. He has a few disgusting (not funny) scenes, especially one at the dinner table, that simply made me groan. I don't know what the hell the Wayans found funny about the character when thinking him up. There are some sharp, smartly written scenes that spoof pop culture, just like the original's attempt at spoofing the "Whazzzzuppp!" guys. There's an interesting and wildly funny scene where they spoof a sneaker commercial (I think that's what it is, I can't remember exactly what the commercial was for) where the characters bounce a basketball to a certain rythm, including the guy in the wheelchair. There's also a fine tribute to "Gone in 60 Seconds" and another one to "Charlie's Angels" (Don't you love it when they spoof movies you totally hate?).
I think the main actress (Anna Faris), who was also in the original, has totally awful timing and most of her comedic scenes just come off as bad acting. Then again, the timing in this movie isn't exactly priceless. You can usually tell when the next punchline is coming. You don't always know exactly what the joke is, but you sometimes have a good idea (any opportunity to journey into the scatological).
My beef with this movie is pretty much the beef I have with a lot of the recent comedies. First of all, most of our recent comedies are aimed towards young people. And comedy writers assume young people will laugh at ANYTHING that deals with sex or bodily functions. The problem is: they're usually right! There are many young audiences (with the exception of me) who crave anything tasteless and crude, no matter how cheap and mindless the joke happens to be. Even dirty jokes should require a certain degree of intelligence. One good example is the Tori Spelling ghost/b**w-job scene. I can't go into detail about the gag without the IMDB staff kicking me out, but the joke was hilarious and original. There was a certain amount of brains behind the comedy, in that instance. "American Pie" is another good example. There are some great, though crude and scatological, gags in that movie. The reason why they worked was because there was intelligence behind the comedy. Let's not forget, even comedy is an art. With "Scary Movie 2" and other past movies like "The Animal" and "The Ladies Man" the writers tend to write things that are dirty, just because they're...dirty. I know there are tons of young people without a brain, who can't handle humor that doesn't journey into that territory, but does that mean you should cater to them and lower all comic standards? You'd think in 2001 writers and directors would've advanced, and learned to write things that are MORE effective comically, rather than slack off and write a comedy/softcore porno flick. But it's the exact opposite. And some of the best comics are still people like Abbott and Costello, The Marx Brothers and Laurel and Hardy. They're timeless classics. No matter what age you are, you can crack up watching those old-time comics. There are some great contemporary greats at comedy, but as a general comedians and comedy writers are becoming more and more lazy by the minute.
Sorry to be preachy, but it's true. I'm not totally badmouthing "Scary Movie 2" and still feel it's a very funny comedy. I just wish there was more variety in the movie biz. Give us more adult comedies! And if you can't do that, write a teen comedy with SOME sense of maturity and intelligence! If the teens boo and complain you're not giving them what they want--screw them! It IS possible to be funny without being disgusting. I can just hear the comedy writers going, "Really?" Yes, it's true. Get to work!
My score: 7 (out of 10), but for the Wayans--try to be a bit more tasteful next time.