With the Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson franchises of "Scream" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" firmly and fully lampooned in the first "Scary Movie," there wasn't a whole lot of new stuff for the Wayans Brothers to take aim at in their spoof sequel. In fact, the brothers were lucky that "The Exorcist" rerelease did such good business. Even though the original had been parodied since the 70's, the Wayans found several ideas to make light of here. And the opening of this film, which spoofs "The Exorcist," proves once again that the boys, with their irreverence and X-rated ideas, can make us laugh our asses off.

Be sure, "SM2" is no where near as funny as it's original, but it's still damn funny. Other than the blockbuster "What Lies Beneath" and "Charlie's Angels" to make light of, the Wayans have to rely on box office losers like "The Haunting," "The House on Haunted Hill," "Hollow Man" and "Blair Witch 2" for material. There's even a joke from "Dude, Where's My Car" here. And there is an obligatory commercial parody (not funny). But it doesn't matter, even if you haven't seen the source material, a lot of the humor pokes through (especially in the "Hollow Man" spoof - hehe).

In addition to the Wayans and much of the first movie's cast, Tim Curry, Chris Elliot, Tori Spelling, Veronica Cartright, James Woods and Andy Richter appear here to add moments of joviality. Of these, Woods gets the best jokes. Elliot, sadly, is once again simply an annoying mess. His appearance as Hanson, a manservant with a deformed hand, grates on the nerves and a repulsive dinner scene seems never ending. It's a one joke character that gets used over and over until we want to, well, scream. Meanwhile, Anna Faris, the lead female from the first film, returns and is as plucky and as goofy as ever. This girl is funny.

Even with Elliot's wasted no-talent, there is much to laugh at here and only occassionally does the film fall flat. That's all you really need to know, right? Is it funny? Yes, it is.

Notes:

Also with Christopher Masterson ("Malcolm in the Middle"), Natasha Lyonne, Richard Moll, and David Cross (who I always think is Steve Odenkirk).

From script to theaters, the film was made quickly in under 6 months. It even has recent jokes about Firestone, the 2000 Election and the mishandling of FBI files.

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