MEET THE SPARTANS

US, 2008, 81 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.

This is the kind of spoof that does not need a review. Most critics hate it and with the public it will be a hit or miss movie depending on tastes and senses of humour. It is for the undiscriminating – or the discriminating taking a break from discrimination.

This team of writer-directors has been producing a spoof movie every year where it be Date Movie, Epic Movie, Scary Movie… They are full of jokes, many crass, many corny, some really good ones (like the blue screen here for the digital Spartans and Persians). A whole lot of satirical barbs are launched at public figures (like George Bush or Tom Cruise) and there are impersonations of Brittany Spears, Paris Hilton (as the betrayer of the 13 – instead of 300), Ellen de Generes, Paula Abdul.

The targets are a lot of American TV shows, especially American Idol (with Simon Cowell thrown into the pit of destruction), Deal or no Deal and Dancing with the Stars.

And, while the whole thing is low-budget, it probably could have been paid for by all the companies who booked product placement.

Basically, it is, as the screenplay says, ‘a cheap rip-off of 300’, the characters, the confrontation with the Persians and the homoerotic atmosphere. It follows the plot fairly directly intercutting the farce and the send-ups. It is not Anthony and Cleopatra and many critics review it as if it were aiming to be. It’s just a parody of 300.