Meet the Spartans is the latest parody from Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the writing/directing duo responsible for the pop-culture spoofs Epic Movie, Date Movie and the Scary Movie series. All of which contain enough funny moments combined to rank on par with the average Judd Apatow flick.
The primary target of their parodic eye in Meet the Spartans is 300, last year's heavily-spoofed sword-and-sandals blockbuster. Arriving a bit late to the "300 is gay" comedic feeding frenzy, Meet the Spartans hungrily devours the few remaining table scraps, milking 300's legendary homoeroticism for many of its jokes.
But that's just the beginning. Like a lion unleashed on a pack of diseased, drunken water buffaloes, Meet the Spartans picks off one easy target after another, taking on such large, slow-moving prey as Britney Spears, Donald Trump, Dr. Phil and Tom Cruise. Friedberg and Seltzer manage to elicit sporadic laughs here and there, but most of the material has a stale "been there, done that" feel.
Fans of Friedberg and Seltzer's previous spoofs and those looking for some breezy, brainless entertainment will likely dig Meet the Spartans. Cinephiles looking for a more sophisticated comedic experience should check out the hilarious Rambo instead.
Scary/Epic/Date Movie veteran Carmen Electra headlines the Meet the Spartans cast, which includes Diedrich Bader (Balls of Fury, Surf's Up), Ken Davitian (the fat guy from Borat) and syndicated television legend Kevin Sorbo (TV's Hercules).
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