Meet The Spartans

Not as horrible as the other parody crap fests that have been out recently (i.e Epic Movie, Delta Farce). "Meet The Spartans" is different from the recent parodies in that it actually follows the storyline of "300", which kind of makes it easier to watch the whole thing. Most of the comedy is drawn from the recent game show craze TV has been facing, and the rest of the jokes are typically disjointed like those made in "Epic Movie". After the Wayan Bros. left the Scary Movie franchise behind, a team of horribly un funny writers have been struggling to recapture the humor of the parody genre. This movie is just another dumb comedy trying to get your buck at the box office. If you are into the recent string of crappy parodies this is one of the better ones and you may find it funny. Personally I don't get the point of putting money into a comedy that is only funny for the five minutes that the jokes are relevant, but I suppose someone out there is watching cuz they keep making them (all starring Carmen Electra, strangely). There were a few highlights to this movie though, for one, what I mentioned about the storyline following "300". This kept the film interesting, particularly to "300" fans. Secondly, the acting is a notch above other parodies. King Leonides is played by a relative unknown Sean Maguire who has GREAT comedic timing and is perfect in the role, Kevin Sorbo aka Hercules is the Captain of the King's army and very funny, and finally Carmen Electra is given a role that requires substantial lines... she is actually a pretty good actress. Generally she is seen running in underwear for a moment, but her role as the Queen of Sparta gives her a chance to actually act (along with her stereotypical sex bomb moments) and it is just surprisingly good. Also exciting to me, personally, one of the main Spartan soldiers is this guy Alicia and I used to hang out with at Universal Studios. Chris Gann, who's also credited as a stuntman in the movie, played the Mariner at Universal's Waterworld show... he's one of the coolest guys & I never forgot him. So it's very cool to be watching a movie and see him all of a sudden on screen. Oh I almost forgot, but the actress who plays Britney Spears also plays Paris Hilton and Paula Abdul... its cool to see someone play 3 characters in a film and not even realize it until you see the credits, check out the poster Paris & Britney both = actress Nicole Parker. The acting is really good for a parody film and that is probably what encouraged my favorable review. Otherwise, the jokes are pretty awful and the weird current nods to pop culture are annoying. OH I can't believe I almost forgot, several times this movie makes references to puns that were deleted from the final cut (just like Epic Movie did), and the DVD has a whole special on a Dane Cook parody which was not in the final cut, so that is also pretty annoying. Anyways, thats all I have to say about it really. Not necessarily my cup of tea.