A Haunted House

*1/2 out of **** (ROTTEN)

Channel the New Year. Already in the second week, the Tomato Meter is at its lowest- a dashing seven percent, and with a spoof movie. This cannot end well. I will admit, the trailer had me chuckling. I'm big on stereotypical humor, and from time to time I like to succumb myself to just stupid, dumb fun. Being a fan of the first Scary Movie certainly doesn't hurt matters.

With that being said, "A Haunted House" is exactly what you'd expect... and not much else. In terms of humor, the ratio's about 2:5. That might seem like a bad mark, which it is, but for a film that aims at the lowest common denominator and scores a higher denominator, it's not too shabby. Acting/story, well, you don't go to these kinds of movies for that. Same goes for editing/choreography.

There's not much you can say about this film. This is one of those cases where you either are the audience FOR this film or you're not. If you're a fan of the first two Scary Movies, have an admiration for the Wayans brothers, and dig the advertisements for this film, you'll walk out of there with some good laughs here and there. If you completely despise these movies, or this type of humor in general, you'll walk out feeling cheated.

However, be warned, this is NOT a kids film (ala a Jason Friedberg/Aaron Seltzer production or even the last Scary Movies that were PG-13). Tons of sex scenes (played for laughs though), nudity, drugs, and such abound.

All in all, it's not as bad as you're led to believe, but it's still pretty flimsy.

Let's get this straight right now: I appreciate good movies. Was this a good movie? No, in fact it was pretty stupid. Will people hate it? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it? A whole lot. I don't know what it was about this movie, but at times I could not stop myself from laughing. In my head I knew it was stupid, but I just didn't care. It's immature, raunchy, and ridiculous, but I loved it. The only Marlon Wayans movies I like, along with this one, is the first Scary Movie, and White Chicks. All three of them were pretty stupid. But that's the point. Sometimes you just have to see those movies that are obviously not good, but will entertain you. I love good, well made movies as much as the next guy, but I also enjoy just kicking back and watching a movie that will keep me smiling for 90-120 minutes. So if you're bored, have $7-$10, and an hour and a half to burn, watch this movie.

If you are bored then watch this it is hilarious love it but if felt like they were on budget

"You made a deal with the devil for a pair of shoes? Not shoes Malcolm!!! Louboutins OK, they've got red soles and they make my calves pop. I really needed them OK!" Malcolm (Wayans) and Kisha (Atkins) have moved in together and are excited to start their new life together. When strange things start to happen they look for answers and narrow it down to one thing. A ghost is messing with them. This is another movie that is pretty much what you would expect. Funnier then the recent Scary Movie movies but after a half hour it seemed to run out of ideas and started to repeat itself. The first half hour was really funny though. The movie spoofs the Paranormal Activity and Last Exorcism movies so if you have seen those this will be funnier. The dialog is funny and this is worth watching but don't expect to laugh all the way through, unless you like the same joke over and over. Overall, very funny for awhile then runs out of steam. I give it a B-.

The writing was already on the wall. With paranormal found footage films being all the rage recently, there's bound to be a comedian out there who would amalgamate most elements found in various films, put them all in a comedic spin, and make a feature film out of it. This time, Marlon Wayans beat the crowd to put something out there first, co-producing, co-writing and starring as the lead in this madcap comedy that pokes fun primarily at the Paranormal Activity films, with the usual politically-incorrect, toilet humour all making their way into the story- line, if you can call it that.

Those who are not Paranormal Activity fans may not come to enjoy the loads of silly references made in A Haunted House, where CCTV camera footage, and a hand-held videocam, together with VHS tapes and a web camera, provide choice footage in and around the home of Malcolm (Wayans). Against good advice, he welcomes his girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins) to co-habitate with him, only for her to bring along her excess spiritual baggage which includes an invisible friend from long ago. Things start to go the Paranormal Activity way with the closing of doors, strange sounds, and the playing with bed linen at night.

While the jokes come thick and fast most of the time, they do seem to be focused around the theme of sex, especially when Malcolm thinks having Kisha stay with him is that open doorway to passionate love each night. And that's where the unexplained ghouls come knocking on their door to exhibit some of the most outrageous physical comedy for the screen. When dialogue comes into play, then it goes the direction of poking fun at the expense of stereotypes, from an effeminate psychic (Nick Swardson) to a gangsta preacher (Cedric the Entertainer), and even more sex-laced comedy no thanks to their swinging best friend couple (Andrew Daly and Alanna Ubach).

Don't expect too much from this comedy and it's alright, although I had the niggling feeling that most of the best bits were already included in the trailer, which will leave you with anticipation for more, but didn't get delivered for that ultimate laughing high. This is one film that you'll either love if you're in the mood for nonsensical comedy, or after that hard day's work, otherwise you may find yourself frowning at just about any antics that the comedians start to pull off. Me? Crass comedies are my guilty pleasure, so I'm lapping up A Haunted House already.