Rushed filmmaking drops the ball....

Rating: Null/10 (5 July 2001)

Scary Movie 2 was made in less than a year. The filmmakers, when they realized that they had a hit on their hands with Scary Movie, started on the sequel. Obviously under studio pressure to deliver a summer movie, they finished with no time to spare. Editing was finished just under two weeks ago, getting the film to theatres on time. One year from script to cineplex; sadly the rush to finish shows. What could have been a cinematic masterpiece of bad taste, instead is a marginally funny, yet sloppy piece of filmmaking.
Don't get me wrong - the movie has its moments. Not wanting to give too much away, James Woods as a priest, a spoof of the Nike basketball dribbling commercial and an appearance from the infamous "mangina" are segments that had me rolling in the aisles. However, the movie was not consistently funny, and with a thin storyline, 10 minutes without a laugh can feel like an eternity.
The story in Scary Movie 2 is not as coherent as it was in the original. Many times it's not clear what the movie is trying to spoof, and the audience often ends up with seemingly unmotivated wackiness.
The movie is short (less than 85 minutes by my estimates) and the pacing suffers. Instead of following the time tested "set 'em up and knock 'em down" formula of comedy, the set-up often seems to be ignored or cut out. As a result, the pacing suffers; when the jokes come too quickly, all in sequence, they become harder to digest and lose their shock value. In addition, the shameless rehashing of several jokes from the first film lends a cheapened feel to the production.
The budget for this movie was twice that of the original. Give this fact, the production value is inexplicably shoddy. I wasn't expecting Citizen Kane in terms of technical skill, but the editing and special effects were so poorly done that it was distracting. Several action scenes that could have been comedic goldmines were filled with jump cuts and other editing errors that made the scenes incoherent. And we barely get a glimpse of the main ghost (Richard Moll! It's Bull from Night Court!) as if the filmmakers were embarrassed at how bad he looked.
Bottom line: If you loved the first one like I did, you'll probably like the second one. You'll be a little disappointed, but admittedly, it would have been hard to top Scary Movie, which I still think is one of the best spoofs I have ever seen.