Aiming to deliver pure comedy content, “A Haunted House” hit movie theaters last Friday, delivering a clever spoof that easily elicited laughter from audiences. The movie was directed by newcomer Michael Tiddes and stars Marlon Wayans (“White Chicks”), Essence Atkins (“Are We There Yet”) and a standout performance by Cedric the Entertainer (“Ice Age”), who does a great job making the movie a funny experience, despite glaring pacing issues.

“A Haunted House,” a spoof film making fun of the “Paranormal Activity” series and the “found footage” genre, does not have a solid, fixed plot to follow. The movie copies – almost exactly – the themes of “Paranormal Activity,” but also has its own twist to bring the movie out of the original series’ slow, horrifying tempo into a fast paced, funny atmosphere.

The movie kicks off with Marlon Wayans as Malcolm setting up his new video camera and talking about his girlfriend Kisha (Essence Atkins) moving in with him. They later find out that when Kisha moved in, she brought a demon with her, and that’s when the weird (and funny) events start happening to both of them. Cedric the Entertainer stars as a priest attempting to exorcise the demon, generating many laughs in this hilarious role.

Having so much to offer and taking it to the extreme, this movie offers nearly non-stop laughs. The concept of the movie itself is kind of sarcastic; turning what was once creepy and mysterious into a hilarious and enjoyable time, and the risk seems to have created a successful move. The acting is flexible and it suits the loose plot structure of the movie.

Wayans doesn’t hold back when it comes to getting laughs. He pulls out all the stops: performing fart jokes, smoking with the demon and much more.

Despite the laughs, however, “A Haunted House” neglects many elements that would make the film complete. Viewers can instantly feel that, though funny, the film is shallow and clearly missing something. Some parts of the movie that weren’t necessary; either there was too much slapstick humor or they didn’t fit the rest of the plot.
Worth mentioning is that the film has not received critical acclaim, receiving a horrendous 10 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and similar ratings by other critics. However, the film grossed over $18 million, beating out rival movie “Gangster Squad” in its opening weekend.

The bottom line is that even though the “A Haunted House” does lack some important qualities of a good movie, it successfully reaches its goal of delivering pure comedy to the audience. Some critics and movie fans may disagree, but “A Haunted House” is an out-of-the-ordinary movie that does what it was meant to do – and doesn’t mind breaking the traditional “good movie” rules to do it.