Youthful fans of Scary Movie-type spoofs might enjoy this send-up of the comic book genre, but anyone over the age of 15 is likely to find it trite and predictable. After nerdy high-schooler Rick Riker (Drake Bell of Nickelodeon's Drake & Josh) is bitten by a genetically altered dragonfly during a school trip to a research lab, he takes to climbing walls and dazzling the citizens of Empire City as spandex-clad superhero Dragonfly, who can do everything except fly. Writer-director Craig Mazin, a veteran of such flicks, benefits from having producer David Zucker on board, which resulted in the casting of Airplane's Robert Hays as the hero's unlucky father (seen in flashbacks) and The Naked Gun's Leslie Nielsen as Rick's Uncle Albert. Other supporting cast include Happy Days matriarch Marion Ross, Christopher McDonald, Brent Spiner, Tracy Morgan, and Pamela Anderson. The gags that don't poke fun at the Spider-Man and X-Men movies are typically tasteless, especially those involving physicist and paraplegic Professor Stephen Hawking (played here by Robert Joy), shown pining electronically for female companionship. On the plus side, viewers will enjoy a dead-on parody of Tom Cruise (played by Miles Fisher) in an online video chat session that is much like his now-notorious Scientology testimonial, and a fistfight between professional look-alikes playing Nelson Mandela, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Dalai Lama, and the Pope. But you still get the feeling that Superhero Movie would be funnier if seen in brief segments on YouTube—where much of it will probably wind up anyway. Not a necessary purchase. [Note: DVD extras include audio commentary by writer-director Craig Mazin and producers David Zucker and Robert K. Weiss, “The Art of Spoofing” and “Meet the Cast” featurettes (11 min. each), 11 minutes of deleted scenes, an alternate ending (5 min.), and trailers. Bottom line: a solid extras package for a lame comedy.] (E. Hulse)
Superhero Movie
Weinstein, 85 min., PG-13, DVD: $29.95, July 8 Volume 23, Issue 4
Superhero Movie
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