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by Spencer Hawken

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I sat down to watch Superhero Movie prepared to be disgusted, but within minutes of the movie opening and realising that the movies writer/director was called Craig Mazin and not Freidberg or Seltzer (the idiots behind Meet The Partans/Epic Hero/Date Movie/Scary Movie 4) my mood began to lift.

Superhero Movie is a spoof movie, but unlike the aforementioned movies not spoofing dozens of movies, in this case simply two Spiderman and The X-Men movies. Instead Superhero Movie when not taking swipes at those two titles it looks at modern trends, things like Internet websites Craigs List, and Facebook. Whereas those other spoof movies left me livid, infuriated in fact at the fact that there are people out there that are so stupid they pay to watch these movies, then moan about them. And sadly on this basis, Superhero Movie might well not get seen due to the fact that the world has finally woken up to the fact that these spoof movies are so last century, and the ones last from the last century were actually funny.

On more than one occasion I laughed out loud at this movie, which while it bears some resemblances to the not so hot newer breed of spoof movies, has more in common with movies like Kentucky Fried Movie, Airplane, and Naked Gun; and as if to acknowledge that its funnier than the 21st century versions and more like the 20th century versions Robert Hays star of the Airplane movies, and Leslie Nielson from Airplane and The Naked Gun take responsible roles. While Nielson's performances have been very hit and miss recently this is most definitely more hit than miss.

Now I'm not claiming that Superhero Movie is a classic, it will never even cause a shadow, but its a pretty good attempt at giving life back to a robbed genre in the comedy market, and no doubt some genius will be round the corner taking notes from this and using it to deliver a really good spoof movie in the near future.

I found lots of reviews when swotting up to write about this movie about it being so incredibly crude, I'm not quite sure what planet these people are on but if farting jokes and the increasing decline of fabric in women's underwear is incredibly crude then maybe I'm some sort of sicko.

Rather like Spiderman the hero of the movie Rick Riker is a bit of a loser, one day out at a nature park and he becomes bitten by a radioactive Dragonfly, the result of which is that Rick gets some unexpected powers, like the ability to stick to things especially people garments. Over in a science lab Lou Landers is dying of an incurable illness and with help from a scientist devises a machine to extend his life, unfortunately the machine goes wrong turning him into a super villain.

There are lots of nice performers in the movie the star Drake Bell stars as Rick AKA The Dragonfly, a very understated actor that has nice comic timing and the sort of face you just want to hit, a common occurrence in the movie. Sara Paxton (a very distant relative of Bill Paxton) is Jill Johnson, a far nicer performance from her than in Sydney White. Christopher MacDonald stars as Lou AKA The Hourglass, an actor who really does play bad incredibly well the actor is possibly best known as Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore. The movie also features Kevin Hart from Fools Gold, Veronica Mars' Ryan Hanson, The Thing's Keith David, Star Trek: Next Generation's Brent Spiner, and Robert Joy in an impersonation of Stephen Hawking so convincing you could honestly believe he was the real thing, his offer to smoke a crack pipe soon makes you realise this might not be the genuine man though.

Leslie Nielson plays his tried and tested Frank Drebbin impersonation, mishearing things, getting the wrong end of the stick, and behaving in a manner you might not want to be associated with. Now in his 82nd year you kind of wonder if the actor is questioning his mortality a little maybe working on the assumption now that each movie he makes could be his last; I'd say it's a great return to form for the actor but sadly is rather underused spending a portion of the movie in a coma. When not sleeping however he rules the film confused over what sex his nephew is, and who his wife is.

Superhero Movie has a lot of gags that don't work, but none of those moments that you want to bury your head in your hands wishing to be eaten up by the floor. I laughed several times and spent most of the movie smiling, to some degree it's like a carbon copy of Airplane so maybe it was memories that kept me smiling; while for the older generation these are all old jokes for a new generation this is un-trodden ground and I suspect that the ones that see the movie will enjoy it, and have the same views of those inferior spoofs as people like myself from an older generation do.

As far as comedies go and as we approach the centre of 2008 this has been the best comedy I have seen released this year, though still not something that will split your sides.

Learn more about this author, Spencer Hawken.

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