Look! Up in the sky! Its a bird! It's a plane ...
No -- wait. It's just another exercise in pointlessness from the same people who ran the Scary Movie and Naked Gun franchises into the ground.
OK, to be fair, Superhero Movie -- a cape-and-tights spoof that takes aim at comic book adaptations such as Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four -- isn't quite as cringe-inducing as the even lesser parody pastiches (think Epic Movie, Date Movie and Meet the Spartans) that are being cranked out with alarming regularity these days.
And credit for that is no doubt due the production team of Robert K. Weiss and David Zucker, who between them are responsible for such lowbrow classics as Airplane!, Top Secret! and The Naked Gun (the first one was pretty funny).
Superhero Movie starts off strong, too, using Spider-Man's origin story as a launching pad for all manner of pop culture references, pratfalls and sophomoric double entendres. But it wears out its welcome a little too quickly, and doesn't do nearly enough with the treasure trove of genre conventions begging to be skewered.
Baby-faced Nickelodeon star Drake Bell (Drake & Josh) is Rick Riker, a dorky high school kid who develops strange powers after being bitten by a genetically enhanced dragonfly. His newfound strength and confidence bring him closer to comely neighbour Jill (whose bedroom window happens to be about six inches from his own, natch).
But it also inadvertently results in the hospitalization of his Uncle Albert (Leslie Nielsen), plus it puts him in the direct path of The Hourglass (Christopher McDonald), a deranged billionaire who has found a way to stave off his own death by literally sucking the life out of everyone around him.
Oh, and did we mention Rick is a bit of a klutz? In addition to accidentally killing his own parents (watch for Airplane! alum Robert Hays in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it role), he also leaves a trail of destruction in his wake that would make even the most accomplished super-villain green with envy.
But as The Dragonfly, he's heralded as a hero, despite the fact he can't even fly -- or sniff out his arch-enemy's alter-ego, even while seated next to him at the dinner table.
Before the inevitable mano-a-mano showdown, Weiss and Zucker toss in a few half-assed nods to the aforementioned superhero flicks, giving Pam Anderson, Simon Rex, and 30 Rock star Tracy Morgan a chance to phone in curiously unfunny cameos.
They fare better with a note-perfect riff on Tom Cruise's much-circulated Scientology video, though anyone with access to YouTube has probably already seen that bit.
Most of the time, they're content to put Neilsen and Happy Days matriarch Marion Ross through the wringer, subjecting both actors to an endless stream of flatulence jokes and similar indignities.
Ross' character makes an abrupt exit before the end. But given the stale jokes and abuse waiting to be heaped upon her co-stars -- in particular, the unfortunate soul playing Stephen Hawking -- she could consider herself lucky.
(This film is rated 14-A)
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