Supergirl (2026) - Review: Woman of Tomorrow

 

With last year’s “Superman” film, James Gunn effectively revitalized the DC brand for the cinematic landscape and kickstarted a new “DC Universe” run by himself and Peter Safran. “Supergirl” then faces an almost impossible task: it is the second film in this new universe, it's the first DCU project to not involve Gunn in the writer or director’s chair, and it features a character who, despite the giant S on her chest, is a lesser-known hero compared to the likes of Wonder Woman, Batman, or her older cousin. All of this is to say that all eyes are on this space faring woman of tomorrow.

The film follows Kara Zor-El, aka Supergirl, played by Milly Alcock (“Upright,” “House of the Dragon”) as she parties around the universe, celebrating her birthday in a drunken stupor. During said stupor, she is approached by Ruthye Marye Knoll, played by Eve Ridley (“Emerald”), a young girl seeking a warrior to help her kill Krem of the Yellow Hills, played by Matthias Schoenaerts (“Bullhead,” “The Mustang”), a space pirate who murdered her entire family. After Krem steals her ship and poisons her dog Krypto, Kara finds herself chasing after him as well in search of an antidote, reluctantly bringing Ruthye along.

With the 2021-2022 comic mini-series “Woman of Tomorrow” as its base, screenwriter Ana Nogueira and director Craig Gillespie (“I, Tonya,” “Cruella”) certainly have some meaty material to pull from. While a good amount of that meat makes it to the big screen, what’s been changed in the process isn’t for the better. This isn’t an example of things being changed and therefore automatically being made worse just by that virtue. Rather, its clear that this is a very simple story that’s been overstuffed with small detours and complications that don’t add to the central character arcs. What should be essentially a superpowered version of “True Grit” in space is jam packed full of side characters that add little to the story and flashbacks for Kara’s own origin story.

This material isn’t necessarily bad. The origin is one of the film’s best aspects, and it allows Alcock to really showcase the nuanced differences between Kara and Clark. These differences then bowl over into the main narrative and how it represents her jaded persona. This is where Alcock truly gets to shine; if Clark is a picture-perfect portrayal of innocence and optimism, Kara is a calloused force of nature. Alcock nails the power, but she’s at her most interesting when she’s balancing her own drunken recklessness with said overpowered nature. Ridley does well in her first film role, and opposite Alcock she turns what could easily have been an annoying, childish companion into a character with her own forces and arc.

Schoenaerts does the best he can with this material, but Krem as he exists here is simply a bland villain. He attempts to be brutal and crazy, but it just comes across as one note and dull, doing weird things seemingly for no reason other than to just do them. The script simply doesn’t afford him any more depth beyond that. Jason Momoa (“Aquaman,” “Game of Thrones”) appears as bounty hunter, and frequent nemesis of Kara, Lobo, and his minor role makes much more of an impact than Krem’s. Lobo might be superfluous to the story, essentially disappearing in the third act after his use is expounded, but Momoa has the charm needed to pull it off. Much of the film itself boils down to being just fine, with Alcock, Ridley, and Momoa holding it all together. The visual identity is good, but overly brown and muddy, especially in the last act. Camerawork is slightly inventive, but cinematographer Rob Hardy (“Ex Machina,” “Mission: Impossible – Fallout”) keeps things to a mostly routine look.

If there’s one massive boon to the film overall, it’s the overall vibe of this tale. Kara is diametrically opposed to Clark’s personality, and her film is likewise opposed to last year’s “Superman.” This space faring tale is full of violence, language, drinking, bounty hunting, and trafficking. None of this ever feels added simply for flavor, as the entire film lives and breathes in this grimy atmosphere. Claudia Sarne’s (“Broken City,” “The Book of Eli”) musical score is a massive highlight, matching the atmosphere and lifting things up, when it isn’t being undercut by hit-or-miss needle drops. While this “Mad Max” meets science fiction vibe could be off-putting for some expecting a more family friendly superheroine tale, it still maintains a throughline of good-natured qualities, juxtaposed against the nastier aesthetics of this tale.

“Supergirl” the film has a lot in common with its protagonist. Both are rough around the edges, can be off-putting to some given their attitudes and aesthetics, and certainly have some character flaws. Alcock does a lot to lift the film up, and she is excellent. What’s here isn’t awful but is certainly underwhelming given the starting point of this new DC universe from last year. A stronger script and visual identity could’ve helped smooth over even more of these issues, but as it stands, it's certainly a unique, abrasive take on Clark Kent’s cousin from beyond the stars. 3.5/5 

Toy Story 5 - Review: Rise of the Machines

 

What could possibly be said about “Toy Story,” the franchise that catapulted Pixar Animation Studios into the spotlight and kickstarted a computer animated revolution. Without Woody and Buzz, we don’t have “Monsters Inc.,” “Shrek,” “Kung Fu Panda,” “Into the Spider-Verse,” “Tangled,” “Happy Feet,” “Avatar,” “VeggieTales,” or “The LEGO Movie.” Suffice to say, with numerous accolades and over $3 billion combined at the box office, the original trilogy of “Story” films are some of the most beloved and important ever made. But now, we’re years past that. “Toy Story 3” is almost two decades old, and even the fourth film is 7 years old now. We might all adore these characters, but is there enough juice left in these batteries to justify a tale beyond the epilogue?

“Toy Story 5” follows Jessie, voiced by Joan Cusack (“School of Rock,” “Working Girl”), Buzz Lightyear, voiced by Tim Allen (“The Santa Clause,” “Home Improvement”), Woody, voiced by Tom Hanks (“Forrest Gump,” “Cast Away”), and the rest of the gang as they deal with Lilypad, voiced by Greta Lee (“Past Lives,” “Tron: Ares”), a new tablet device given to their kid Bonnie, voiced by Scarlet Spears. While attempting to prevent tech from invading Bonnie’s life, Jessie finds herself swept away to the home of her old owner Emily, now occupied by a new family and child named Blaze, voiced by Mykal-Michelle Harris (“Mixed-ish,” “Cheaper by the Dozen (2022)”).

There are a handful of things that are to be expected with virtually every Pixar production by now, and this latest story of toys is no exception. The film looks exceptional, and while the warm look and lighting from the fourth are gone, in its place is a clean and pleasing look that emphasizes scale. There’s a seemingly stronger emphasis on low angles this time around that zeroes in on the size and scope of these living toys. It might be the same overall look that Pixar has maintained for years, but it works and is very obviously a “if it ain’t broke” circumstance. A few small moments showcase what could be a bold new direction, with imaginary playtime scenes dressed in a watercolor, painterly aesthetic. The same goes for Randy Newman’s (“Monsters Inc.,” “The Princess and the Frog”) musical score, and while he doesn’t contribute an original song this time around, the musical identity of the series is untouched and still of the highest quality.

Much like the technical side of the film, the vocal performances are just as fantastic as they’ve ever been. Cusack delivers a career best performance, and both she and Jessie get a lot of room to work with the deepest emotional work Pixar has given the cowgirl since her debut. It’s a really fantastic performance. Allen and Hanks are as great as they’ve ever been, perfectly slotting back into their buddy cop duo personas, even if the material for them is weaker than for Cusack. Lee is an excellent villain, dialing into an almost nasally kind of persona that works wonders as the film evolves her character. Spears and Harris are also excellent as the film gives the kids the largest part of the story they’ve ever had. Conan O’Brien (“If I Had Legs, I’d Kick You,” “Conan”) appears as the potty-training tech toy Mr. Smartypants, injecting a healthy amount of abrasiveness and potty humor into Pixar’s usually squeaky-clean facade. He gives an energetic, scene-stealing, comedically golden performance that is a highlight of the film.

If you had a checklist of everything that a film needed to be a “Toy Story” movie, this fifth installment would easily tick every box. Yet, there’s something deep inside that’s missing. There’s a special little spark that seems to be dimming. Maybe it's the fact that this is the fifth adventure in the franchise, that this is the fifth time they’ve tackled the idea of the toys facing obsolescence, or the second time they’ve faced the encroachment of technology (looking at you, underrated and now ironically named television special “The Toy Story That Time Forgot”), but so much of the film feels like going through the motions. They are great motions to go through, as the film still elicits plenty of laughter, adventure, and some tears when required, but it never feels the same as the first three, or even the bittersweet feeling of the fourth.

Most of that comes from the script. Co-writer/director Andrew Stanton (“Finding Nemo,” “Wall-E”) is a steady hand on the ship, keeping things headed in exactly the right direction you’d expect for a “Toy Story” adventure. He and co-writer Kenna Harris (“Ciao Alberto”) wring a lot of funny stuff out of this fifth adventure, but the script is bizarrely toothless. Despite never being pointed films, the previous entries all had something to say in some way. “Toy Story 5” does, but what it says about technology feels like its side-stepping making any actual statement, and everything else feels like a grab bag of ideas. A B-plot running alongside the main story involving a group of shipwrecked Hi-Tech Buzz Lightyear toys is a stroke of genius that feels like new and unique within the “Toy Story” concept, while the rest of the film is exploring ideas the previous entries have already done. With them and characters like Smartypants, they get close to saying something about toys and tech combined but never cross the gap to make it connect. It doesn’t feel like a new grand chapter in the saga, but instead just another day in the life.

That might sound harsh, but it is worth reiterating if you’re looking for more adventures with Woody, Buzz, Jessie, and the rest of the gang, you’ll be more than satisfied here. It looks incredible, is packed with tons of great vocal performances, and keeps the same ethos of the series burning bright. Anyone expecting something that goes beyond that though will likely be a bit disappointed. Each new tale in this saga doesn’t have to do something radically new or break new ground. But the risk of not doing that on the fifth entry is that you soften the specialness of these stories. The quality is still very high, but will this latest toy tale be remembered as fondly as the rest? Well, that’s something only the kids can decide. 4/5 

Girls Like Girls - Review: Loving In The Summertime

 

After a career as a Disney Channel teen actor, singer/songwriter/actress/author Hayley Kiyoko pivoted into a pop career that has made her one of the biggest queer artists on the planet. Affectionately known to her fans as “lesbian Jesus,” her biggest hit came in 2015 from her second EP titled “Girls Like Girls.”  After the massive success of the song and then the music video, Kiyoko expanded the song into a novel that has now been adapted into a film, written by herself, Chloe Okuno (“V/H/S/94,” “Watcher”), and Stefanie Scott (“A.N.T. Farm,” “The Girl in the Woods”) and directed by Kiyoko.

Its summer 2006 and Coley, played by Maya da Costa (“Under the Bridge”) has just moved in with her estranged father Curtis, played by Zach Braff (“Scrubs,” “Garden State”) after the unexpected death of her mother. In her new town she meets Sonya, played by Myra Molloy (“The Bold Type,” “He’s All That”), and the two begin a whirlwind summer romance as Coley attempts to grapple with her first love, and Sonya struggles with her newfound attraction to girls.

From the film’s opening moments, the vibe Kiyoko wants to capture is extremely clear. This is not a squeaky-clean kind of teen romance. This is the sort of film that's bathed in a warm summery haze, with natural lighting and an emphasis on mid-2000s nostalgia. From the clothes to the hangout spots to the thick original iPods, this film is clearly aimed at anyone who grew up in the years 2000-2009. Nothing here feels flashy either. There are no quick camera cuts or fancy movements. No elaborate panning sequences from cinematographer Sonja Tsypin (“Fuzzy Head,” “The Yellow Wallpaper”), just a calm, understated window into Coley’s life.

In some way, you could see the film’s short runtime and limited scope as a slight, but rather it goes further in capturing Kiyoko’s evocative goal. This is a quiet kind of contemplative film, and while the script certainly has its fair share of romance and coming-of-age cliches, there’s a wistfulness in how it navigates it all. Every character in the film is messy, and Kiyoko, Okuno, and Scott capture the complicated nature of being a teenager quite well. There’s plenty of space to allow both Coley and Sonya grace in their missteps.

Costa plays Coley with a soft and gentle hand; there’s a kindness to her performance that allows anyone in her circumstances to see themselves and feel cared for. Molloy plays Sonya as a popular whirlwind girl, and it's easy to see why and how Coley falls so fast for her. The script spends a majority of its time on Coley though, which makes Sonya feel underdeveloped as a result. She clearly has an arc that’s happening off-screen, but it's harder to sympathize with her in the way the film wants as we simply aren’t seeing her journey. Braff turns in a surprisingly understated performance as Coley’s father Curtis, and there’s a slowly evolving warmth to his portrayal that makes each scene he and Costa share together a highlight.

The rest of the film’s technical merits are all top notch, if slight. The needle drops have plenty of queer representation, such as Tegan and Sara and new songs from Kiyoko herself, and the costume designs have a natural feeling to them, as if the costume designer opened a box of all their old outfits from 2005. This is just a kind, calm film, without sacrificing Coley or Soyna’s emotional journeys. There are no grand statements on life or romance or anything of the sort; just a slice of these two girls lives figuring things out on their own personal queer journeys.

“Girls Like Girls” could be described as a sleepy little film, but it effectively evocates the early 2000s vibe for a sweet lesbian romance brought to the big screen. Kiyoko’s vision is clear and true, if simplistic, and the warmth radiating from the setting and the characters is felt sweetly. Costa and Molloy are great together, and you feel their romance throughout the uneven, cliched script. If nothing else, this is an unpretentious gateway film for young queer women everywhere and a jumping off point for Kiyoko’s potential as a filmmaker. 3.5/5 

Disclosure Day - Review: Close Encounters of the Emotional Kind

 

When you’re the person who essentially created the summer movie scene, a new film touching upon those blockbuster ideals is cause for celebration. Steven Speilberg (“Jurassic Park,” “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial”) has returned to such material with his latest film, reteaming him with writer David Koepp (“Jurassic Park,” “Spider-Man (2002)”) and the genre he essentially helped mold into what it is nowadays: the UFO/alien film. This latest film, “Disclosure Day,” certainly seems to share a lot of ideas and themes with his previous works in the genre. Hopefully it’s more than just a close encounter with the blockbuster kind.

The film follows cybersecurity specialist Daniel Kellner, played by Josh O’Connor (“Challengers,” “Wake Up Dead Man”), on the run with his girlfriend Jane, played by Eve Hewson (“Flora and Son,” “Bad Sister”), from the shadowy tech corporation WARDEX, run by CEO Noah Scanlon, played by Colin Firth (“The King’s Speech,” “Mamma Mia!”). Meanwhile, Kansas City meteorologist Margaret Fairchild, played by Emily Blunt (“Mary Poppins Returns,” “A Quiet Place”), begins to experience strange voices and senses telling her to find Daniel and to help him with his whistleblower mission: to disclose evidence of alien life and contact to the public.

There’s a lot at play here that seems to recap a lot of what Speilberg has explored in previous films, and in a lot of ways it feels like a direct reaction to the evolution of modern-day sensibilities. There’s a subplot about a potential World War 3 going on in the background that eventually ties into the third act in smart and intriguing ways. Speilberg and Koepp know what they're doing in building intrigue, but that intrigue is one of the weaker moments of the overall film. While there is a lot of mystery surrounding characters, most of it feels as though it was added simply to exist. The film ends with plenty of loose threads dangling, or just unconnected from the conclusion, and not in a mysteriously unexplained way. There’s quite a bit of suspension of disbelief required for various moments to work as well, possibly too much depending on the viewer.

This might make it seem like the third act is the weakest in the film. Far from it, as this is when Spielberg’s combination of big heart and blockbuster tension culminates in the most satisfying chunk of the film. For a tale with this much tension and intrigue, Spielberg not only nails the final moments of it, but manages to perfectly execute the film’s central idea. Empathy and understanding are the biggest ideas here, and despite the film's blockbuster exterior, it means the film resonates far strongly alongside Speilberg’s other works like “Close Encounters,” “The Sugarland Express,” “The Color Purple,” or “The Fabelmans,” than that of his blockbuster thrillers. This is where the superficial elements fall away to reveal the gigantic mush heart at the center of this tale. It presents these core ideas as nakedly emotional as Spielberg has been in decades.

O’Connor is good, keeping attention for his portion of the film expertly so, and his chemistry with Hewson is great, setting the pair of them up through some tumultuous emotional thrills. Firth gets to do plenty of scenery chewing and evil glares as well, and he is fantastic in doing so. Colman Domingo (“Sing Sing,” “euphoria”) also appears as Hugo, a former WARDEX employer and partner in disclosure with Daniel, and he does a lot of great work with what are essentially exposition dumps at various points throughout the film. Blunt is the secret weapon though, as she manages to bring conviction and gravitas to what could have easily been the film’s silliest role. Somehow, she manages to completely captivate the entire time and steals the show from everyone else involved. She is truly fantastic.

As expected, even if the film’s story ebbs and flows, the technical merits of a Spielberg film are rock solid. Janusz Kamiński (“Schindler’s List,” “West Side Story (2021)”) returns as cinematographer and the film’s action is well shot, with the quieter interior moments and camerawork leaving a far larger impact. John Williams’ (“Star Wars,” “Raiders of the Lost Ark”) score is more understated than his most popular works, even absent from some scenes. It nevertheless thrills when it does kick in, elevating the scenes and emotional states rather than rising to their level on its own.

For some, this will be Spielberg at his most schmaltzy, unable to suspend their disbelief given the basic concept. In our age of deepfakes, AI generated materials, and fake news, would videos on the news be enough to convince us that aliens are real? Spielberg and Koepp seem to think so, and there is a wonderful core of hope at the center of the film. It wants to believe that one big event is enough to bring not only the country, but the whole world together. The film, therefore, slots nicely into the “hopecore” subgenre popularized recently by films like James Gunn’s “Superman.” Like that film, there will simply be some people far too cynical for Spielberg’s vision to render effectively. But there’s no denying the effort on display to make this vision work.

“Disclosure Day” isn’t a masterpiece like “Close Encounters of the Third Kind” or Spielberg’s other UFO movies. But it also doesn’t feel like it's trying to be like them at all. This is a simpler, sweet, more hopeful movie at its center, led by fantastic production elements, a great cast, and h a terrific Emily Blunt at its center. It is still thrilling, but the third act and emotional themes are where things really shine, despite the dangling plot threads. Your mileage may vary, but this feels like the father of the blockbuster and modern alien movie is asking you not to grip your seat with tension, but to sit down, listen, and feel. 4/5 

Masters of the Universe (2026) - Review: I've Got the Power

The 1980s has seen plenty of beloved properties and toy brands come back from the dead in our modern age for subsequent adventures, films, reboots, and even more toys. While there was only one live-action film attempted in 1987, the world of He-Man and She-Ra has never really left pop culture so long as you knew where to look. There was an animated tv reboot starting in 2002, a sequel series from Kevin Smith starting in 2021, a CGI series starting in 2021, and a “She-Ra” reboot series from Netflix and DreamWorks starting in 2018, and, in the midst of all those shows, numerous comic books, action figures, and video games. But any attempt at another film has languished in development hell... until now!

“Masters of the Universe” stars Nicholas Galitzine (“Red, White, and Royal Blue,” “Bottoms”) as Adam Glenn, the prince of Eternia sent to live on Earth and hide the legendary Sword of Power from the evil Lord Skeletor, played by Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club,” “House of Gucci”). After hiding out for years, he is retrieved by his childhood friend Teela, played by Camila Mendes (“Do Revenge,” “Riverdale”) and brought back to his home of Eternia, now ruled by Skeletor and his right-hand woman, the sorceress Evil-Lyn, played by Allison Brie (“Community,” “The LEGO Movie”). Adam, Teela, and former head of the king’s guard and Teela’s father Duncan, played by Idris Elba (“Beasts of No Nation,” “The Wire”), lead a ragtag group to fight Skeletor and save the kingdom of Eternia from his rule. 

Director Travis Knight (“Kubo and the Two Strings,” “Bumblebee”) certainly has some experience with films full of fantasy and animated characters, and his expertise is used well here. There’s a distinct command of the film’s various CGI inhabitants and green screen backgrounds that work better than in other, similarly set films. There are still moments of weakness in the green screen department, but there’s also a clear effort to reduce those times thanks to the playful lighting. The various moments that merge mediums are also great, with the third act’s myriads of scenery changes and visually distinct moments working wonders.

What’s less wonderful is the script. Given the total of six credited writers, there are definitely peaks and valleys across the entire project. Its overall a very fun, silly time, but writers Chris Butler (“ParaNorman,” “Kubo and the Two Strings”), David Callaham (“Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse”), Aaron Nee (“Band of Robbers,” “The Lost City”), Adam Nee (“Band of Robbers,” “The Lost City”), Alex Litvak (“They Will Kill You,” “Predators (2010”), and Michael Finch (“John Wick Chapter 4,” “Predators (2010)”) get far too jokey with the material as things go on. Look at another recent high-fantasy film adaptation, “Dungeons and Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” as an example of a recent nerd property that embraced the sincerity of its geekiness. “Masters” doesn’t do that, undermining the material at every step. Yes, given the source, this would inherently be a very silly movie. But the humor seems ashamed of the source material, and its persistent throughout the entire film, even when it's trying to be serious.

Galitzine does a lot of heavy lifting, pun intended, here and manages to deliver both the muscles of He-Man and the heart. He's a charming lead, and his mixture of empathy and openness in spite of his muscular stature works wonders for his arc throughout the film. Mendes does a fine job with the material, but Teela just simply isn’t the most well written character out of the film. She and Galitzine do have fun chemistry, and it helps to elevate some of those issues. Elba is injecting a weaponized amount of his typical charm into Duncan, and he makes for a good mentor to Adam as the film progresses. The supporting cast, like James Purefoy (“The Following,” “Rome”) as Adam’s father King Randor, Charlotte Riley (“Wuthering Heights (2009),” “Peaky Blinders”) as Adam’s mother Queen Marlena, or Morena Baccarin (“Firefly,” “Deadpool”) as the Sorceress, are all fine enough if fairly unremarkable. The real stars of the show are Brie and Leto. Brie completely understands the kind of light campiness required for this kind of evil grinning wizard type role, and Leto dives completely headfirst into a pool filled with cheese. He steals the film out from under everyone else and delivers what might be his most earnest and best performance thus far. He’s evil and menacing but never loses Skeletor’s inherent silliness.

Like Leto, the film is simply at its best when it's embracing the high fantasy camp inherent to the material. Daniel Pemberton’s (“Project Hail Mary,” “Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse") musical score, for example, leans hard into high energy electric guitars and hair metal inspirations, and it becomes one of the film’s defining and best elements. Crucially, embracing itself doesn’t mean making fun of itself. When it is embracing things, it's a wonderful adventure of sci-fi and campiness. The third act is a wonderful example of this; it completely abandons any attempt to poke fun and instead just has fun and therefore becomes the best part of the film. The rest isn’t bad by any means, but there’s only so many times you can make jokes about how silly someone’s name is before it looks desperate. The more the film goes on, the more it also shakes off some initial pacing issues. It just takes a bit to get going, and once we’re in Eternia again things really pick up.

“Masters of the Universe” wasn’t on anyone’s bingo card to become a smash hit in 2026, but Travis Knight and his team have definitely put far more effort in than anyone would have expected. It isn’t perfect, but there’s a delight and fun at its campy core that’ll give anyone looking for a blockbuster a good time. Leto is the best part, but everything that surrounds him is still a ton of fun once it gets out of its own way. 3.5/5 

Scary Movie (2026) - Review: Left For Dead

 

You would think that when you turn in two films within a year’s time that manage to gross almost $400 million against a combined budget of $60, you’d have any studio’s good graces on your side. That is unless you’re Marlon Wayans (“White Chicks,” “Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood”), Shawn Wayans (“White Chicks,” “Don't Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood”), or Kennan Ivory Wayans (“In Living Color,” “I’m Gonna Git You Sucka”), who were promptly fired from the third “Scary Movie” by the Weinstein brothers after doing just that. Now, almost 25 years after their last entry in the series, they’ve succeeded in reobtaining the rights to their beloved parody franchise back for a sixth entry. Can they make good use of their reacquired darling?

Set 26 years after the first film, this new “Scary Movie” follows Cindy Campbell, played by Anna Faris (“The House Bunny,” “Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs”), as she reunites with her longtime friends Brenda Meeks, played by Regina Hall (“The Best Man,” “Support the Girls”), Shorty Meeks, played by Marlon, and Ray Wilkins, played by Shawn, as they attempt to thwart a new Ghostface masked killer who has begun to target their children, as well as other returning characters from the first film such as reporter Gail Hailstorm, played by Cheri Oteri (“Saturday Night Live,” “Sit Down, Shut Up”), and special officer Doofy Gilmore, played by Dave Sheridan (“Ghost World,” “Frank McKlusky, C.I.”). 

There’s certainly reason to celebrate this latest entry in the beloved parody franchise. It’s always nice to see the original team return to a series they were unceremoniously evicted from, and that original team is where much of the fun from the film comes from. Faris and Hall are simply wonderful anytime they’re on screen together. Their real-life friendship bleed through each of their scenes, and it makes each moment with them the best parts of the film. Marlon has certainly slipped right back into Shorty’s “high as a kite” persona, which somehow manages to be even more over the top than even Seth Rogen’s most exaggerated stoner characters. Shawn is more subdued in general, but the only defining characteristic of Ray being his Pepe Le Pew levels of obsession with his male lovers gets old very quickly.

Ray’s character is the perfect place to start, as much of the film can be described in the same way as him: dated and overexaggerated. In the first “Scary Movie,” his affluent nature and coming out was meant to poke fun at the homoerotic undertones of the killers in the first “Scream” film. Now, his reintroduction here is an extended sequence of him proclaiming that he doesn’t like men anymore while mimicking fellatio and exaggerated descriptions of the male figure. It’s a joke and archetype that not only felt played out two decades ago, but they’ve managed to retread it with no additional insight or humor. Marlan, Shawn, Keenan, and additional writers Craig Wayans (“Dance Flick,” “My Wife and Kids”) and Rick Alvarez (“A Haunted House,” “Fifty Shades of Black”) get plenty of mileage out of doing just that: bringing up a concept, overplaying it, and then assuming that’s all the joke needs. 

Take, for example, the film’s moment meant to poke fun at the “Terrifier” franchise. A flashback sees a much younger version of Cindy’s daughter meeting Santa, who happens to be Art the Clown from the “Terrifier” franchise, who gives her a severed arm as a Christmas gift. Beyond the cheapness of the fake body part, there’s no insight or commentary on “Terrifier” using the scene. It’s just there because it's a thing the audience knows and is modern horror iconography, so it must be mentioned in the newest “Scary Movie.” This is how much of the film’s humor goes, pointing at a thing to remind the audience it exists without providing any additional insight.

To those wondering why one might expect such from this franchise, it's because that’s what the first film did. The original “Scary Movie” actually had some insights and provided some observations on the newly pseudo-satirical takes on the teen slasher genre popularized in the 90s. Yes, it also had fart and weed jokes, but it did manage to make some light critiques within the material. While this latest film once again takes aim at a recent “Scream” film, this time the 2022 release, it simply recreates the plot without actually offering any new observations.

That isn’t to say there isn’t anything funny about the film. Rather, when things go fully into the absurd, that’s when the material does shine. A sequence in the middle of the film poking at “Get Out” and, of all things, “KPop Demon Hunters” is certainly one of the most memorable moments, and virtually the entire third act does maintain a high level of absurdity. It also bears repeating that, when you have moments centered around Faris and Hall, they can work to elevate even the dumbest of dumb humor to something chuckle worthy. That third act combines both of those elements into something that is truly more meta and self-effacing than any “Scream” film has even attempted. It’s a shining moment of brashness from the Wayans and you’d wish the rest of the film had even a faction of its chutzpa. At least it lacks the cheapness of director Michael Tiddes’s (“A Haunted House,” “Fifty Shades of Black”) other films, or of “Scary Movie 3,” “4,” and “5.”

There are a good 20 minutes in the middle of this 95-minute movie where things grind to a halt and feature a collection of what are essentially skits without any of the main characters present. This seems to be where the screenplay was left purposefully blank to simply shoot a bunch of additional material a month before the film’s release to be as current as possible. It certainly is recent, but it's still just pointing at known things. The film isn’t even consistent on what things it points at: indie horror darlings like “Terrifier” and “The Substance” get segments, but a fellow cult horror film like “It Follows” is pointed out as being too “obscure” for a moment in the film.

At the risk of giving the film more time than it deserves, the politics at play in the humor are also just fascinatingly bizarre. There are consistent digs at Fox News, an extended bit involves the Epstein files, and Cindy’s first scene with Brenda involves her pointing out how she’s a Republican and therefore must now hate black people. But the film then also has its myriads of gay jokes, one of Brenda’s children is named DEI, one of the main young teen cast is a transgender boy with numerous jokes directed at him, and the central joke in the trailer and third act involves someone being misgendered after a stabbing, leading to them being stabbed even more. It feels remarkably confused and like the writers simply grabbed a collection of jokes out of a hat and threw them into a blender, shooting them all off at the wall with reckless abandon.

While the franchise is likely critic proof, given the $100 million global opening weekend against its $30 million budget, it's worth noting how far this film has fallen from the Wayans' previous works in the franchise. What went from two films poking fun at the horror genre, with specific tropes and examples in its crosshairs, has turned into yet another skit-based, referential, pop culture slog of a comedy. Moments of genius do exist, such as anything featuring Anna Faris or Regina Hall and whenever the film barrels into the truly bizarre and absurd. But you’d be slogging through an awful lot of worse material to get there. The Wayans and co. might be “crossing every line” as the marketing says, but they’re not walking; they’re dragging themselves across half dead. 1.5/5