Plot Details: This opinion reveals no details about the movie's plot.

Have you ever had the thought that things couldn't possibly get any worse, that the world is stuck in such an appallingly bad state that the only possible way to go is up, only to have something come along that takes the once rock bottom world into something lower still, and while you're not quite sure what this is you know it doesn't smell to sweet? As you've probably guessed I'm referring to the movie world, a world that a few years ago had the latest Michael Bay films among the most successful films of all time and I couldn't imagine the situation getting any worse. Of course I was plainly wrong, and the situation now is in such a deplorable state that I can't imagine it getting any worse. Not exactly looking forward to the future then.

Now the film I'm reviewing here is on the receiving end of these comments purely because it happens to be the latest one that I've had the displeasure of seeing on cable, but it could easily have been the film to contain the first spark of that tragedy, Scary Movie, in case you were curious.

So what exactly is this spark that was kicked off by Scary Movie, only to burn totally out of control in Not Another Teen Movie? Was it the employment of silly humour for the sake of making fun out of someone else's art? No!!! That tactic has been in effect for years, best examples being The Naked Gun, films which spoofed cop thrillers like The French Connection, and Hot Shots which spoofed everything from Top Gun to Rambo. No those films were always great fun, the problem is that these modern film makers have changed the formula, just subtly enough that people take no note, but it has such an effect that the film goes from great fun to mindless drivel in the blink of an eye. The trouble is that with past examples the writers would view a lot of serious films in a genre, then see what little idiosyncrasy's they could pick out before making fun of the films we take so seriously. However with these new films they are going down to another place, ignoring the masses of films in the genre they are spoofing for the sake of the more modern variations that are, in themselves, comedies anyway. Scary Movie was already pointing out the silliness inherent in the movie Scream which was satirizing the whole scary movie genre by highlighting the sillier aspects, which kind of makes a spoof more than a little pointless. However Not Another Teen Movie takes this concept to a whole other level.

At least Scream had a degree of subtlety to it's humour, and so it was understandable that someone like the Wayans would take it seriously, and as such spoof it with some traditional overblown slapstick. However Not Another Teen Movie is spoofing films like American Pie, Roadtrip and company. Films that were already overblown slapstick, that could never be mistaken as serious and as such are near impossible to spoof. The thing is that in trying to prove they can be spoofed the writers of Not Another Teen Movie have only proven the theory correct. Taking an overblown slapstick joke and overblowing it to slapstick levels kind of results in the exact same joke, and so all that ends up on offer is a greatest hits collection stolen from other films.

Of course there are a number of jokes aimed at films with a darker sense of humour, such as Cruel Intentions, but still the writers fail to understand the rules of spoofing, because instead of finding a scene they can make fun of for itself, they have taken famous scenes for the sake of recognition but still they amount to nothing more than overblown retelling of jokes that worked better in the dark. Case in point, the infamous Cruel Intenions best kiss award winning scene, has been redone with an old lady replacing Selma Blair and including something like 6 times the amount of drool so that even those who have seen Cruel Intentions don't find themselves laughing because it could easily have been making fun of any girl on girl kiss scene.

All in all I would have to say that Not Another Teen Movie is a serious waste of potential. Most of the films that deserved to be spoofed, such as the 80's fluff starring Andrew McCarthy Molly Ringwald and the rest of the Ratpack, films like Pretty In Pink, are ignored 99% of the time, and on the occasions that they are used the target audience don't even get the jokes. Instead what you have is the movie equivalent of a child who waits for some other child to tell a poor joke and then runs in screaming "Get it, get it. He said Granny loads and then said 'Aunt you glad Grannies gone' because Aunt sounds like Aren't!" Sure it's cute when a child does it, but on grown men it's just plain embarrassing, and more than a little condescending that they would assume we didn't get the jokes. Sure a lot of us never laughed at Jason Biggs enjoying unchaste relations with an apple pie, but trust me, we got it, so we didn't need to see Randy Quaid having a threesome, (seriously that is the level of wit we're dealing with here.) Sure making fun of the token black guy was a good idea, but that was a long time ago, we've heard that joke already. Get some new material people!!!

Not Another Teen Movie is a film that contains just one good joke, a joke that sees a few Ali G clones making fun of someone for trying to act Asian, instead of fitting into the traditional white stereotypes. It's a second of screen time that actually manages a little wit, a scene that has left me convinced that a group of pre school children were touring the building the day they came up with it because it's far to advanced for the writers of this film.

Other than that, well like all slapstick comedies there's no real plot, just a collection of gags from otherwise unrelated films. The acting is largely forgettable, but like Leslie Nielson, they don't need acting talent or comic timing because they have charisma, especially Mia Kirshner who looks deliciously like Jennifer Love Hewitt, but quite what her and Randy Quaid are doing in such drivel is beyond me. The film is not witty, clever, or even fun. A shameful mess, and another root of all evil in the universe.

This has been my entry into the One Stars Too High writeoff.

Recommended: No

Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age