In the third installment of the Scary Movie franchise, news anchorwoman Cindy Campbell has to investigate mysterious crop circles and killing video tapes, and help the President stop an alien invasion in the process.
Ratings
Curator score: 0.7/10
IMDb: 5.6/10
Rotten Tomatoes: 36%
Metacritic: 49
TMDB: 6.0/10
Director
David Zucker
Production
Brad Grey Pictures, Dimension Films
Cast
Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Simon Rex, Anthony Anderson, Charlie Sheen, Leslie Nielsen, Kevin Hart, Jeremy Piven, Pamela Anderson, Jenny McCarthy, Denise Richards, Elaine Klimaszewski, Diane Klimaszewski, Drew Mikuska, Jianna Ballard, George Carlin, Queen Latifah, Eddie Griffin, Camryn Manheim, Marny Eng
Where to watch
fuboTV, Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential
Curator Review
Verdict
A hit-or-miss early-2000s spoof that still lands when it commits to absurd visual gags, deadpan randomness, and big character energy. It’s not as sharp as the best parody comedies, but if you enjoy broad, juvenile, reference-heavy humor and don’t mind uneven jokes, it can be very funny.
Best for
fans of early-2000s parody comedies
viewers who like rapid-fire joke density
people who enjoy dumb-but-clever visual gags
audiences nostalgic for MTV-era comedy
Skip if
you want consistently smart satire
you dislike crude, chaotic humor
you need every joke to age well
you prefer character-driven comedy over sketchy spoofing
Overview
Scary Movie 3 is the franchise at its most aggressively silly, with David Zucker steering it toward broader parody, visual escalation, and gag-first pacing. When it works, it works because the movie commits hard: a tiny bit of business gets stretched into a full comic set piece, and the cast sells the nonsense with total confidence.
Worth noting
The humor is uneven, though, and the film leans heavily on pop-culture spoofing and shock jokes that can feel dated or random depending on your tolerance. Still, it has a real rhythm to its stupidity, and a few recurring bits become genuinely memorable because they’re so overcommitted.
Bottom line
If you’re in the mood for a loud, disposable comedy that wants you laughing at the sheer audacity of the bit, it’s worth a look. If you want the cleanest, smartest parody, this is more of a mixed bag than a classic.
Top Letterboxd reviews
othavio 🇵🇸 (3★) · 3474 likes
"fifty black people got they ass beat by the police today, but the whole world gotta stop for one little whitey down a hole"
Erin 🍺 (3★) · 3043 likes
Brenda is the greatest character ever written for film
ronja (3★) · 2190 likes
ive never seen ANYTHING funnier than the officers hat getting bigger and bigger
jarod (1★) · 1546 likes
killing brenda set the women's rights movement back like 40 years
2008 · Action, Comedy, Adventure · 1h 47m · R · Curator 5.8/10 (1.2M ratings) · Where to watch: Paramount Plus Premium, Paramount Plus Essential, MGM Plus
A high-energy satire that mixes big performances, industry jokes, and outrageous set pieces.