It's not terrible, this new Scream movie. It's just completely unnecessary. I was kind of excited to see this movie, because I'm sick of all the Saw movies and their clones. There's even a nice joke at the beginning of this one making fun of the Saw movies and their general lameness. But then it goes downhill.
While I was watching this, I was wondering why some of the horror remakes work really well and some don't. This isn't technically a remake, but, c'mon, it's been 11 years since the last one. Do you even remember anything about Scream 3? I remember going to see it and thinking it was okay, but that's about it. So why is something like the newest Friday the 13th fun, and this movie is not?
Wait, I know why - Friday the 13th took everything people liked about those movies the first time and came up with new and inventive ways of reminding people how much fun it all was. Scream 4 takes everything people liked about those movies, and says "Look! Here it is again! You love Neve Campbell! Look, she's still alive! Look at Courtney Cox and David Arquette! Remember they got married in the movie and in real life! Here they are! Here's Ghostface! It's all the same! Yay!"
But about 15 minutes into it, I remembered exactly why Neve Campbell never did anything else. There she is - looking the same and acting the same. Perpetually wet eyes, a scruched up face, and a hitch in your voice works al ot better when you're supposed to be 17, not 34. Courtney Cox walks around like she's the new Demi Moore, and everyone should be amazed at how good she looks Only David Arquette seems to be trying. His Dewey is a little more subdued now that he's chief of police.
As for the new kids, pick a TV show, and I'm sure one of the kids from that show is in this movie. And most of them make Skeet Ulrich and Matthew Lillard look talented. I even missed Jamie Kennedy. His Randy has been replaced by 2 movie nerds who run the school's "Cinema Club", since video stores are basically extinct, and between the both of them, they have about half a pulse. The only new character who seems halfway human is Sydney's publicist - she wrote a book on her experiences - how original - played by Allison Brie. Of course, just when she starts making sense to the leftover characters, Ghostface comes callng.
This movie has a chance to end pretty spectacularly, but it doesn't have the courage of it's convictions. Instead of ending in a way that would empasize the whole "New Rules" angle in the trailers, it chickens out and ends in a more recognizable way. It's an ok ending, it's just disappointing because it could have been so much better. I would have happily lined up for Scream 5 instead of waiting for the rental. Maybe I'm being a little too hard on this movie. After all, it's so "meta", it doesn't even realize how "meta" it is, and like any bad stand-up comedian, no one associated with this movie realizes that everyone gets the joke....it's just not funny anymore.
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