BEFORE: As I've said, if you're going to do a parody, you might as well go all the way. I've seen so many superhero films that take themselves WAY too seriously, thus unintentionally making myself the ideal (?) target audience for this film. You've got to admit, the genre is ripe for parody.
THE PLOT: Orphaned high school student Rick Riker is bitten by a radioactive dragonfly, develops super powers (except for the ability to fly), and becomes a hero.
AFTER: It's about time that superhero movies had their own parody film, on the level of "Airplane" or "The Naked Gun". This one gets almost to that level - unfortunately it gets dragged down by a little too much toilet humor - farts are funny, yes, but there is a limit. Even the baked beans cookout in "Blazing Saddles" seems tame compared to the auditory gas featured in this film.
The jokes that play off of "Spider-Man" mostly land, though - with a spoof of Batman's origin story mixed in, and guest appearances by the Fantastic Four and various X-Men. How they got away with using the names "Wolverine" and "Professor Xavier", I have no idea.
Nickelodeon star Drake Bell plays the Peter Parker analog, Rick Riker, and Leslie Nielsen and Marion Ross play his uncle and aunt, who've taken care of him since his parents were gunned down (in hilarious fashion) - Nielsen, of course, provides a direct link to both "Airplane" and "Naked Gun", so I wasn't surprised to see a Zucker Brother or two in the credits (but no phony credits at the end, darn...). However, there are outtakes and additional gags in the credits sequence that I found to be funnier than most of the jokes in the main film. So go figure...
Of course, a high-school field trip to a scientist's animal experiment lab ends in an accident that grants a teen super-powers - only this time the agent is a dragonfly, not a spider. Riker is granted super-strength, the ability to climb walls, but for some reason, not the ability to fly (Why? Because it's funny, I guess...)
I've got no use for "Scary Movie", "Date Movie" or "Disaster Movie", but I have to admit that I found a lot of this to be funny. I think this is largely because of the tone - the movie doesn't try to be serious in any way.
Spoofs of characters like J.Jonah Jameson really work - spoofs of real people like Tom Cruise (who as far as I know has no connection to superheroes), not so much. And the nerd jokes at "Hero Con" just hit a bit too close to home.
Also starring Christoper McDonald, Brent Spiner, Keith David, Robert Hays (another "Airplane" veteran...), Nicole Sullivan, Tracy Morgan (as Prof. X), Pamela Anderson (as Invisible Girl), Dan Castellaneta, Craig Bierko (as Wolverine!), Jeffrey Tambor, and Robert Joy (the coroner from CSI:NY) as Stephen Hawking.
RATING: 5 out of 10 titanium blades
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