Film Reviews

Superhero Movie

• Rating:
• Director:
• Starring: Christopher McDonald
• Details: US / 85mins (15A).

How do you write a review for a comedy, and especially a parody? What more can you say than 'It's funny' or 'It's not funny'. Thankfully, Superhero Movie is so bad it gives you plenty to talk about. I got one decent laugh from this 'comedy' and that was seeing Christopher McDonald's name in the opening credits; after superb comic roles in Thelma & Louise, The Iron Giant and unforgettable as Shooter McGavin in Happy Gilmore, McDonald is an underrated comedic actor and I anticipated some of his typical character-driven quips. However, like everything else in this movie, McDonald is wasted. A parody of the superhero movies - Batman, X-Men but primarily Spiderman - the plot sees high school nerd Rick Riker (Drake & Josh's Bell) bitten by a dragonfly on a school outing and transformed into the superhero - Dragonfly. As he goes about saving the city from the bad guys and impressing the impressively-looking Sara Saxton, his nemesis - businessman Lou Landers (McDonald) - changes into the evil Hourglass and the two go head-to-head. Gags come thick and fast in Superhero Movie, but there isn't a decent one throughout (okay, the Tom Cruise impression isn't the worst I've seen). It might be funny if you've never seen Airplane, Hot Shots and Top Secret, but we all have at this stage, haven't we? Oh, Leslie Neilson pops in for a look too - but he forgot what's funny a long time ago.

Review by Gavin Burke