Meet the Spartans

9

20th Century Fox (84 minutes)
Aaron Seltzer , and Jason Friedberg
Diedrich Bader , Kevin Sorbo , Emily Wilson , Method Man , Ken Davitian , Jim Piddock , Sean Maguire , and Greg Ellis

Rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language and some comic violence

Summary: The heroic Leonidas, armed with nothing by leather underwear and a cape, leads a ragtag group of 13 - count 'em, 13! -- Spartans to defend their homeland against the invading Persians (whose ranks include Ghost Rider, Rocky Balboa, the Transformers, and a hunchbacked Paris Hilton). (20th Century Fox)

Clark Collis
Entertainment Weekly:
(58) Less classic Mel Brooks than middling "Best Week Ever."

Mark Feeney
Boston Globe:
(38) The best thing in Meet the Spartans is the swift kick in the bombast it delivers to the oh-no-not-us homoeroticism of "300."

Maitland McDonagh
TV Guide:
(25) The musical number that runs during the closing credits funnier than anything that precedes it, which isn't saying much.

Frank Scheck
The Hollywood Reporter:
(20) Writer-directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer basically reprise the tired formula from their earlier efforts, which is to throw in as many pop culture references as possible to cover up the lack of any real wit.

Jeannette Catsoulis
The New York Times:
(20) Overkill is what Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer do best: as the uncontested titans of the parody genre (with fingers in everything from the “Scary Movie” franchise to the more recent “Epic Movie”) they continue to prove that ridiculing other movies is much easier than making your own.

Luke Y. Thompson
LA Weekly:
(20) Meet the Spartans is a mild improvement over their "Epic Movie," which is like saying that a debilitating fever is more fun than appendicitis, but what’s shocking is how lazy it is, which is a shame for former UK child star/pop singer Sean Maguire, whose Gerard Butler impersonation is spot-on.

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