|
 andy's back! Well, not exactly. Having been killed off in
"Scream 2",
Jamie Kennedy ("The
Specials") makes a cameo return as Randy, the former video store clerk,
horror movie expert, and the coolest Ghostface killer victim ever. His character
shows up on a pre-recorded videotape to shed light on the situation that the
returning characters are now facing.
Sidney (Neve Campbell) is living a solitary existence in
the hills of Los Angeles when a spree of new Ghostface killings brings her out
of hiding. At first Sidney is hesitant to return, leaving the investigation and
chase to contested ex-lovers Dewey (David Arquette) and Gale Weathers (Courteney
Cox), who are drawn back into the fray when a new Ghostface killer starts
killing off the cast of "Stab 3", a Hollywood movie about the
Woodsboro murders. Who is this new killer and why is he/she/they trying to draw
Sidney back into the spotlight? Better yet, why did they kill Randy off in the
last installment?
More comedy than thriller, "Scream 3" is once
again directed by franchise honcho Wes Craven, but the screenwriter this time
around is Ehren Kruger ("Imposter"),
who knows enough about the previous two films to keep this third from going off
the deep end -- or is that going too much off the deep end? This third
and last installment is all about making you laugh at the silliness of
Hollywood, its actors, and this thing called show business; but there is still
some room for somber characterization, mostly whenever Campbell's Sidney is
onscreen. After all, while everyone else can joke about what's transpired in the
previous films, they didn't have the same harrowing experience as poor Sidney,
so her moody disposition makes perfect sense.
As mentioned in the film by way of the resurrected Randy,
"Scream 3" is the end of the trilogy, so that means all the old rules
are cast aside and nothing that came before can be counted on this time around.
New truths are revealed and the pasts of some characters are re-invented in an
effort to give reason to this sequel. Of course it makes sense just enough to
justify the killing spree, but really, does it even matter anymore? At the end
of the day, the killer's motives are just a couple of throwaway lines for the
actor to spit out while standing over Sidney with a knife ready to slash.
Joining the cast of the soon-to-be-dead is former Playboy
playmate Jenny McCarthy, playing an actress who is 35 "and tired of playing
21 year olds". Patrick Dempsey ("Sweet
Home Alabama") provides the hunk role as hunky detective Kincaid, but
like all the cops in the trilogy with the exception of Dewey, Kincaid is rather
useless despite his best efforts. (Handsome guys just don't last long in the
"Scream" trilogy, I'm afraid.) Emily Mortimer ("The
51st State") shows up as an ingénue actress playing the
Sidney role, even though on one believes she's as naïve and innocent as she
claims to be.
Of the would-be-victims, the best has to be Parker Posey
("The Sweetest
Thing"), who is an actress playing Gale Weathers in the
movie-within-the-movie. Posey is on fire, rattling off one funny line after
another. Too bad she had to go by way of a knife, as did everyone else whose
name isn't Sidney, Dewey, or Gale. Then again, that's life in the Teen Slasher
biz.
It's probably a good decision to kill off the franchise
with "Scream 3" and thus make this a trilogy rather than a series of
endless sequels. I mean does anyone know why Jason of the "Friday
the 13th"
films still goes around killing people? My point exactly. As it stands,
"Scream 3" is more of an inside joke than an actual movie anyway, so a
fourth installment would simply have to become a gross parody of itself in order
to work.
Kill it now, before it gets worst.
|
