CriticSociety- film reviews

Review

Meet the Spartans

Director

Jason Friedberg

Aaron Seltzer

Year

2008

Rating

Reviewed by

José Ruiloba a.k.a. Morris

Review date

Monday, April 21, 2008

I can’t help it. Every time one of these so-called satires comes out I just have to see it. I love when people make fun of pop culture but there’s a difference between being intelligent and going for the lowest standard possible. I almost always come out disappointed, but I’ve learnt to expect the worst and thus the experience is not that bad. I actually enjoyed and was entertained by Meet the Spartans but it certainly is not a good movie; it’s like being addicted to one of those brainless TV reality shows despite knowing they’re nothing but trash.

The plot follows Leonidas (Sean Maguire) as he has to face the Persians, led by Xerxes (Ken Davitian), with his army of ridiculously muscular men. Back home his wife Queen Margo (Carmen Electra) has to face the counsel and go against Traitoro (Diedrich Bader) in order to get Leonidas the desperate help he needs.

Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer directed from their own screenplay. Now to put things in perspective they are also the guys responsible for Date Movie and Epic Movie; they also collaborated in the Scary Movie franchise. At least their latest does not have a generic name such as all of the aforementioned, but it still ain’t any good; I wouldn’t even know how to rate them against each other. They’re all practically the same although tackling different genres as their spoof material.

Meet the Spartans is obviously targeting the plot of 300 and the whole running gag in the movie is that all of these soldiers are gay and act accordingly. I have to admit to laughing at some of these jabs, since 300 really is a movie that is easy to make fun of. Unfortunately the rest of the gags are not nearly as funny or amusing. Several reality and game shows are made fun of and Ugly Betty, Britney Spears and Paris Hilton get to make appearances. Spider-Man 3 also figures at some point and I can’t really remember anything else.

You know the drill, it is joke after joke after joke with only about 20% percent of them working if at all. It’s better to just deal with it and move on with your life.

Performances are as good as what they’re required of. Sean Maguire makes a good stand-in for Gerard Butler’s Leonidas and nails the accent and mannerisms. Carmen Electra, a veteran of this type of movies, feels right at home and is actually fun. Ken Davitian, Diedrich Bader, Kevin Sorbo and Method Man also try their best.

“Stop kicking people into the pit of death! Honestly!”

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