Editor’s Note: This was originally published for FANGORIA on August 10, 2006, and we’re proud to share it as part of The Gingold Files.
Ah, the vagaries of the MPAA. During the audio commentary on the Weinstein Co./Genius Products Unrated DVD of Scary Movie 4, we learn that a Brokeback Mountain gag in which one of the gay cowboys proffers a gerbil had to be cut to get a PG-13—even though, as one of the filmmakers explains (or attempts to, anyway), anyone old enough to understand what the gerbil is for would be old enough not to be damaged by the joke. (In actuality, the bit wasn’t cut, but, in the best E.T. tradition, the rodent was digitally replaced with flowers.) And yet the trailer (included on the disc), in which heroine Cindy (Anna Faris), injured during a game of catch between Tom (Craig Bierko) and his son, reassures him that “I’ve taken balls to the face before,” was approved for all audiences by the ratings board. Homophobia, cluelessness or just plain irony? One might vote for the second one, as the commentary informs that a “Dirty Sanchez” joke also got a thumbs-down from the MPAA—who had only learned what the phrase means after complaints that they’d let it slip through in the PG-13 Dodgeball.
Whatever the case, that gerbil, the Dirty Sanchez and a number of other moments that never made it to the big screen now have their day on the small one thanks to the unrated disc. And yet, a film like Scary Movie 4 (previously reviewed here) isn’t quite as enjoyable when viewed at home as it is in a crowded theater—though the experience could be enhanced if you watch the DVD accompanied by a big group of friends (or a six-pack).
A unique and highly entertaining experience you do get from the disc is that commentary, a boisterous affair teaming director David Zucker, producer Robert K. Weiss and screenwriter Craig Mazin. With no illusions about the type of film they’ve created (“We don’t do satire, and we have no point,” Weiss says in response to criticism of the Scary Movies’ lack of both), the trio nonetheless make it clear they have lots of fun on these projects. For all that, they also note the discipline that goes into making a movie like this (very little of it was improvised) and share plenty of production anecdotes, like the fact that the props in the Saw parody sequences came from that actual film franchise, and the time cell-phone tower signals threw off the hi-def camera they were shooting with. They also note the contributions of Dimension topper Bob Weinstein—like the flatulent sound FX in a Village spoof scene—and indulge in a healthy amount of self-deprecation, right down to comparing their past cinematic bombs during the closing credits.
A key target of their jesting is the material they cut out, a good deal of which is presented in a deleted-scenes section the DVD packaging calls “hilarious.” The filmmakers would beg to differ; on the commentary for this section, more than one trimmed bit is introduced with a groan of “Oh no…”, and another is described as “the bad version” of a setpiece that plays differently in the movie. (Yet another, for which FX weren’t completed, won’t even make sense unless you’ve listened to the feature commentary.) For the most part it’s hard to disagree with them, though to be fair, I did laugh out loud at a gag involving a horse and an auto part.
Elsewhere, there are bloopers and a couple of brief segments on director Zucker, though none of these are as amusing as the moments in a visual FX featurette where the artists talk matter-of-factly about digitally rendering “ass clouds,” etc. The tongue-in-cheek An Interviewer’s Worst Nightmare, in which actors refuse to talk in any detail about the movie they’re making, will probably be funnier to those who haven’t actually had to deal with tight-lipped cast members on Dimension sets. And a pair of supplements on the rappers among the Scary Movie 4 ensemble are strictly for hip-hop fans. It’s the movie itself and the commentary that deliver by far the most entertainment on this DVD, leaving one looking forward to the possibility of Zucker and co. savaging Hostel and Lady in the Water in Scary Movie 5.
