Body Fount

Comments (0) By Nick Rutigliano Tuesday, Sep 26 2000

Details

Urban Legends: Final Cut
Directed by John Ottman
Written by Paul Harris Boardman and Scott Derrickson
A Columbia release

More About

Whatever else can be said of Urban Legends: Final Cut, you can't whine that they skimped on the cast: Not only is Rebecca Gayheart (you know, from Urban Legend!) back in a FULL CAMEO, but—brace yourselves kids—the chance to see JOEY LAWRENCE on the big screen has finally arrived! His humor value rests squarely on his past persona, a poignant reminder of when crap had the nerve to really be crap. Which, in turn, is not to say that Final Cut isn't shitty; it's simply less campily moronic than its predecessor, a tired kill-by-numbers. Hell, even the series' premise is barely kept afloat, low-tech kidney theft being the only UL on display that seems to have made the rounds off set (y'ever hear the one about the real bodies in the funhouse? Didn't think so.), though its gloomily streamlined vision of college remains intact. Thus, where earnest Ivy Leaguers once battled the evil dean, limply satirized film students now muss about top-notch soundstages, paving the way for lame nods to Peeping Tom and Blair Witch. UL's security guard/Pam Grier disciple (Loretta Devine) adds a mote of continuity and awkward racial tension as she again saves various dumb white collegiate asses, and before long we're treated to no less than a triple cop-out wrap.