Starring: Drake Bell, Sara Paxton, Christopher McDonald, Leslie Nielsen, Kevin Hart, Keith David, Jeffrey Tambor, Tracey Morgan, Regina Hall

Directed by: Craig Mazin

Dimension Films

The Official Site of Superhero Movie

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So…. Superhero Movie. The latest generic disaster spoof comedy to lower the standard and make you forget about the classics of the genre like Airpalne! and Young Frankenstein that put it on the map in the first place. Another empty, pandering, PG-13 moneymaker to distract us in-between real movies with a movie made up completely of other movies. And… I… uh… ummmm… Itttt…..

…it wasn’t bad…

I wasn’t even supposed to see this movie (scroll down to the About the comic section) so the fact that I actually kind of liked it is like a punch in the balls. I don’t like these movies. I’m offended at how overly processed they are and how they succeed on recognition instead of originality, but for some reason Superhero Movie works. Maybe it was the low expectations going in that it would live up to the pathetic standard of the modern spoof movie tradition that Scary movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie, and Meet the Spartans have all comfortably settled for. For some reason though, this latest effort thrives in the format and produces a familiar story with a lot of new laughs.

Here’s why Superhero Movie succeeds where others fail: It has focus. Most spoof movies go off on tangents. They mix characters from different movies taking advantage of 3 or 4 references at a time for optimum laughs. All these familiar faces and scenes are mashed together and we’re expected to giggle just because we recognize it. It gets too crowded, it gets too desperate and I get bored.

Other than a 10-mintute stop over at Xaiver’s School for the Non Asian Gifted and a back-alley Batman flashback, Superhero Movie steers clear of those pitfalls by remaining true to the Spider-man template, building jokes off characters instead of familiarity. What’s truly amazing is that they don’t even dip into the sequels. No black costume, no Doc Ock with 8 mental penises, not even an awkward strutting scene ala Spider-man 3. That’s a joke even I couldn’t pass up.

The point is, Superhero movie doesn’t take the easy out. It builds its jokes off the Spider-man origin story without taking advantage of the obvious gags. They even come up with their own hero and villain. The Dragonfly certainly shares a lot of similarities with Spidey, but the films bad guy (Hourglass, played by the fantastic Christopher McDonald) bares almost no resemblance to any of Spidey’s theatrical villains in story or appearance. It was amazing to see a uniquely conceived character in a movie like this.

Now, the movie is not impervious to pop culture. If you’ve seen the trailer then you’re aware that a Tom Cruise impersonator appears in a send up to his Scientology Youtube video. But I can tell you now that everything you’ve seen, is all you will see. Like the superhero references outside the Spider-man family, they’re fit into the context, gone before they become annoying and forgotten before the next scene is over. It’s nowhere near as offensive as what we’ve become accustom to.

The movie stars Drake Bell as Ricker Riker and The Dragonfly. He’s terrible. Bouncing between wooden and hammy the entire time. His upbringing on the Nickelodeon show Drake and Josh and his folksy pop career may be enough to make tweens around the world swoon, but they weren’t preparation enough to help him to carry this film. Same deal for his leading lady Sara Paxton who’s gorgeous, but stuck doing a glorified Kirsten Dunst impression. I wasn’t crazy about Dunst’s version of Kirsten Dunst in Spider-man so you can imagine what it was like watching someone mimic her for an hour. Watch this exclusive Youtube clip though – she’s got the voice down perfect.

So yeah, that was a clip of a fart joke and, as to be expected, there’s plenty of that kind of humor in the film, but let’s be real - That was a clip exclusive to Youtube, targeting the Nick Jr. crowd that checks Bell’s blog everyday and totally puts him in their top 8. Let them have their fun, that clip (as funny as it is for an extended fart joke) does not represent the entire movie.

While the two leads are manageable but not outstanding, there is definitely a cast of characters around them that more than make up for it. Leslie Neilson, a certified master of the spoof (The Naked Gun, Airlplane!) fills the Uncle Ben role here and nails every scene he’s in. Though he’s appeared in some of the modern disasters, he more than makes up for it here with his strongest appearance in 15 years. It’s like watching Babe Ruth rise form the dead and hit a home run for some sick kid that died 50 years ago. That’s how satisfying it is to see Neilson on top of his game again.

Another name worth mention is Kevin Hart who is a grossly underrated comedian in this genre. While he’s wiggled his way into the house of Apatow with bit parts in The 40-Year-Old Virgin, last week’s flop Drillbit Taylor and a reoccurring role on Undeclared, the bread and butter of Hart’s career has always been these cookie cutter spoof comedies. He’s too good for them and I think Superhero Movie proves it.

While Leslie Neilson being great in a spoof may not come as a shocker, the fact that Superhero movie is actually good might surprise a few of you. We’ve gotten so used to assuming these movies are going to be bad, whether it’s the safe PG-13 jokes or the annoying 13-year-old crowd around you, this genre has definitely lost its edge over the last 10 years. I’m not saying that Superhero Movie is its great savior, but it certainly doesn’t dumb it down, play it up to the kids or rely to heavily on the movies it’s sending up. And in comparison – “not sucking� is a tremendous victory.

Rating: 6.5 out of 10 - Speaking the language of the target audience (myself included) Superhero Movie is the Spider-man 2 of spoof comedies. All the misguided spoofs we’ve suffered through over the last decade were just the clunky origin story of the well-produced adventure that Superhero Movie turned out to be. Of course, once one of these things is actually worth going to see – people don’t bother. Superhero Movie wasn’t able to crack the 10 million dollar mark in its opening weekend making it somewhat of a disappointment in comparison to other spoofs that easily made a killing. I’ve got no explanation other than maybe audiences have been burned one too many times or that a Dragonfly is no replacement for a Spider Man.

Whatever the reason, I’m certain that the spoof comedy won’t die out any time soon. They’re too easy and too cheap to make so we’ll be seeing another 2 this year at least. What are the chances they’ll actually be worth seeing though?

Kind of…? I never expected there to be any debate about it, but Superhero Movie plays up to the comic nerd in me, flawlessly staying true to the origin story formula and rarely playing to every conceivable pop culture item of the moment like these films generally do. Superhero Movie is well told, good looking and funny. If I didn’t have such a predilection towards hating these films sight unseen then there’d be no debate at all – I’d own it the day it came out.

Chances are that won’t happen though. DVD’s are starting to get overpriced and it’s becoming less and less difficult to just hold out a couple months until you can scoop it up used at Blockbuster. If Superhero Movie ever finds its way into my collection, that’s the most likely route.

Ok, today's strip is just a continuation of Thursday’s (click back). I hadn't planned on doing a second strip or even seeing Superhero Movie in support of the Fanboys boycott, (Click back, damn you!) but in the end I decided that it wasn't fair to punish one movie that might be good just because the company that made it screwed over some other movie. Plus I totally had this free pass I could use to see it, and I kinda assumed the movie would suck and that my negative review might discourage a few of you from going to see it. We’ll see how that works out now… Screw them for making it halfway decent, right!?

At least the negative tone of the comic is doing its part. The cruel twist is that one of the points of protest revolves around the movie shifting from celebrating fanboys to ridiculing them. In that respect I'm just adding fuel to the fire with these past two strips. I'm not really helping the cause by joining in on the mocking and I kind of feel bad about that.

I like these characters though. Even this tough guy who, though he agrees with the protestors, still feels that he has to push them over. It's as if he understands his place in the universe and has quietly accepted it. Here's hoping they make more movies about Star Wars fans so that I can have Mexican Jedi get his revenge.

What Happens in Vegas - The new comedy What Happens in Vegas, starring Ashton Kutcher and Cameron Diaz tells a cautionary tale of not getting too drunk while on vacation. Especially in a city where you can get married in a drive through and win 3 million dollars with the push of a button. Because as nice as that chuck of change is, you’re going to have to share it with the beautiful stranger lying next to you.

That’s the situation our two stars find themselves in, and as complete opposites, they of course want nothing to do with one another and immediately begin fighting over the money (it was her quarter but he played it. Either way – they‘re married and they’re fighting over it.) Instead of deciding for themselves, the judge freezes the money and sentences them to 6 months of “hard marriage�. It sounds less ridiculous coming out of Dennis Miller’s mouth for some reason.

And if that weren’t bad enough, after Kutcher saves a young boys life the judge forces the boy to become his butler for a week. Ok, that doesn’t happen but would you really be so surprised if it did? Is it so outlandish when compared to the rest of this paint-by-numbers romantic comedy set-up the trailer lays out?

What Happens in Vegas is the perfect example of a movie made around a title. A popular phrase is ripped from the social consciousness and a story is constructed around it instead of the other way around. I can’t blame them for doing this. How many people will give the movie a second look just because of its catchy title? Movies are about selling tickets and sometimes a little name recognition is more valuable than a quality (or believable) storyline.

The one thing that truly gives me hope is the cast. Besides Kutcher (who is full of more surprises than I’m giving him credit for here) and Diaz (who’s still the perfect Mary) the movie brings together an impressive list of supporting players. Casting Zach Galifianakis, Rob Corddry, Queen Latifah and Dennis Farina should make for a nice distraction from the predictable premise, but for how long. Like it matters. This movie opens up against Speed Racer with Iron Man going into its second week. The summer season is going to kill Vegas.

The Doctor Is In

This is a news flash about news for any and all Dr. Who fans out there. A brand new news site for the popular sci-fi, time traveling series has popped up over at Thw Who Philes. This is a pet project from Steve Naperski, a fellow web cartoonist that’s responsible for comics like Dueling analogs and The Outer Circle. His work ethic continues to impress as he takes on this next big project covering the most famous alien doctor with a British accent.

I’ve never personally been a huge fan of Dr. Who, though I have watched a handful of the Chris Eccleston episodes and enjoyed then quite a bit. It’s always one of those things that I intended to get into but always sort of felt overwhelmed by. There’s such a rich history developed over the decades and different incarnations of the show… it’s hard to know where to begin. That episode with the living statues seems like a nice pace though.

More to the point it looks like Steve’s new site will be a nice way too keep up with the latest news on any Dr. Who updates as well as outside projects of those related to the show (including news bits on the upcoming American version of Spaced and Eccleston’s role as Destro in the upcoming G.I. JOE movie.) So stop by and get your weird British time travel on.

That’s it for now, but don’t forget to stop by The Triple Feature tonight at 10pm EST where Tom, Gordon and I will be talking about a nice little weekend at the movies. All three films I caught (Run Fatboy Run, Superhero Movie and the weekend’s big winner 21) were all flawed but fun movies. It was a hard weekend to pick a real stinker. I’m going to check outt he one that got hit hardest by the critics, Stop-Loss, to see if that rule can hold up an extra day.

Thanks for reading!

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