'Scary' Spoof Sputters Barbs, Jabs Light up Tobacco-Industry Satire
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+ + INSIDE: Barry Watson stars in new ABC t TELEVISION 4 sitcom ‘What t ANNIE’S MAILBOX 5 About Brian’ 3 t BRIDGE 6 THE BLADE, TOLEDO, OHIO y FRIDAY, APRIL 14, 2006 SECTION E Reviews and MOVIES Katie Holmes feature by CHRISTOPHER BORRELLI, Blade Staff Writer WEINSTEIN COMPANY Cindy Campbell (Anna Faris) discovers that the house she lives in is haunt- ASSOCIATED PRESS ed by a little boy in a scene from Scary Movie 4. Toby Keith’s current hit, ‘Get Drunk and Be Somebody,’ is a rowdy bar song while other country artists are opting for ‘Scary’ sensitive love ballads. spoof Keith gets sentimental sputters with a smirk 4th film in series Country star puts lacks cleverness of his rebellious stamp earlier installments all over his new CD Have I died and gone to pop-culture heaven? What is By KELEFA SANNEH NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE this joy that features, within its first 90 seconds no less, As usual, Toby Keith seems the sight of Dr. Phil sawing slightly — and deliberately — out off his own foot, and not a of step. guy playing Dr. Phil either, This month, the country trio but the actual, bald, bring- Rascal Flatts made a big splash: me-your-muddled-masses The group’s eagerly anticipated Dr. Phil? new album, “Me and My Gang” Oh, right. Scary Movie 4. (Lyric Street/Universal), hit My enthusiasm defl ated. shops, and it has a good chance I knew it wouldn’t last, and of becoming the year’s fastest- it didn’t, although that grin selling CD so far. lasted longer than expected: The group is known for big, In the fi rst skit of the fourth sometimes sentimental hits, installment of this venerable and the anticipation for the al- (OK, unstop- bum has something to do with t Review pable) spoof the latest one: a tearful song of The Wild. series, Dr. Phil called “What Hurts the Most,” Page 3 and Shaquille which topped the country O’Neal (again, chart. the real guy, not a Shaq imper- The song’s lyrics make a sonator) fi nd themselves in straightforward admission that the scenario from Saw. Again, wouldn’t sound out of place in a I felt a strange glee: Saw is slow jam or an emo sing-along: pretentious and convoluted, “It’s hard to deal with the pain ideal for tearing apart. of losing you.” In fact, the coun- Ripe target for satire, right? try charts are full of sensitive The scene points to every- thoughts from sensitive men: thing wrong with this series, Keith Urban’s lovely ballad “To- pretty much from the start, night I Wanna too: Shaq and Dr. Phil wake to fi nd themselves chained to the fl oor of a large bathroom. There’s a maniacal puppet on a monitor explaining he’s rigged a device that will kill them if they don’t disable it. The device is attached to a basketball net. All Shaq has to do to save his life is sink a free throw. Just one basket. Oh, and the ball he’s given to throw is a big rock. Pretty funny, right? It is. Never mind that the scene NEW YORK TIMES leaves Saw itself unscathed, Toby Keith’s new ‘White Trash that celebrities given the With Money’ CD was released courtesy of spoofi ng them- Tuesday. selves is never as tasty as Cry,” Montgomery Gentry’s someone else twisting the “She Don’t Tell Me To” (which screws. It assumes you know fi nds the two usually tough guys something: Dr. Phil can be picking wildfl owers), and Blake self-aggrandizing and Shaq Shelton’s plaintive semirequited can’t do the simplest thing his love song “Nobody but Me.” profession asks him to. But Keith’s current hit is “Get What the rest of Scary Movie Drunk and Be Somebody,” a 4 requires (and not even that rowdy bar song; when he sings much) is that you recognize the “Great God almighty,” he’s not movie its spoofi ng, that you’ve praying — he’s issuing a beery either seen The Grudge and The rallying cry. The song comes Village and War of the Worlds, from his strong new album, or that you’ve seen enough ads which was released Tuesday. for them to get the quotes. I’m It’s called “White Trash With not going to tell you why you Money” (Show Dog/Universal), shouldn’t laugh at Scary Movie and the back cover shows a chest 4, because I laughed a few (presumably his) and a pendant times; there’s a scene where bearing a dollar sign. (By hip- Anna Faris (the franchise’s re- hop standards, the pendant is silient star) and a Japanese boy laughably small; it’s barely big speak to each other in com- enough to make a decent wrist- pany names (“Sony, Sanyo”) watch.) that approaches the perversity The album includes a sure- See SCARY, Page 2 to-be-infamous addition to the Toby Keith canon: “Runnin’ Block,” in which the protagonist graciously beds a big woman Scary Movie 4 Barbs, jabs light up tobacco-industry satire — a “jelly roll,” he calls her — so Directed by David Zucker. Screen- his buddy can bed her big sister, play by Jim Abrahams and Craig who’s smaller. Not for the fi rst Mazin. A Weinstein Company re- A son asks his father: t Tom Cruise talks about lent. On the one hand, I wish lease, opening today at Cinema De “Dad, what makes America the Katie Holmes, Scientology we had a movie as defiantly Thank You time, he is practically begging Lux Franklin Park, Cinema De Lux greatest country in the world?” on Primetime. Page 8 combative as this every week. listeners to hate him. Maumee, Fox Woodville, Showcase The father replies: t On the other, I wish it trusted for Smoking Keith’s career has lasted lon- Levis Commons, and Sundance “Our endless appeals system.” What is Scientology’s those belly laughs more, was ger than most nonfans know. Kid Drive-In, and rated PG-13 for practice of silent birth? Written and directed by Jason Reit- (He released his self-titled fi rst crude and sexual humor through- If Thank You for Smoking, the more barbed, funnier, and less man, based on the novel by Christopher out, some comic violence, and new movie version of Christopher Page 2 forgiving. (It gets a tad squishy at Buckley. A Fox Searchlight Pictures re- album in 1993.) Over the last language. Running time: 95 minutes. Buckley’s satiric 1994 novel, were times.) Sorry, but I like my bitters lease, opening today at Super Cinemas, half-decade especially, he has Critic’s rating: oo just glib and funny — if it were is brisk, the fi lm is slight, and cold, merciless to the touch. As and rated R for language and some sex- mastered the art of bobbing Cindy Campbell .........Anna Faris able to sustain a steady barrage the scenario is the comings and with last month’s V for Vendetta, ual content. Running time: 92 minutes. and weaving. He has stuck to Brenda Meeks.......... Regina Hall Critic’s rating: ooo Tom Ryan ................Craig Bierko of jabs as sharp as that one, for 90 goings of a cheerfully sleazy to- that it has a goal other than scor- Nick Naylor................... Aaron Eckhart his guns enough to seem like an George ..................... Simon Rex minutes or so — Jason Reitman’s bacco lobbyist, played by Aaron ing cheap shots on slow-moving Polly Bailey ....................... Maria Bello untamable maverick. And he has ooooo Outstanding; fi rst feature might have worked Eckhart, his squared-off jabber- targets is admirable in theory Jeff Megall........................... Rob Lowe tweaked his image enough to oooo Very Good; ooo Good; jaw smile showing its fangs. Joey Naylor ................Cameron Bright keep both friends and enemies oo o strictly as a screwball comedy, but won’t do a lot for your brain Fair; Poor. Instead, Thank You for Smok- Heather Holloway ..........Katie Holmes off balance. cut from vintage 1940s cloth. in practice. Vendetta offers a les- ooooo Outstanding; oooo The setting is the power cor- ing has bigger ambitions that Very Good; ooo Good; oo Fair; + ridors of Washington, the pace leave me sheepishly ambiva- See SMOKING, Page 2 o Poor. See KEITH, Page 5 + Cyan Magenta Yellow Black 041406_RP5_DLY__E1 1 4/13/2006, 6:29:41 PM.