The New York Times-20080126-Doing Battle On the Field Of Parody- -Review-

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Doing Battle On the Field Of Parody; [Review]

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So much has been written about the homoeroticism in the film 300 that any spoof is bound to feel like overkill. Fortunately, 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.

In Meet the Spartans, King Leonidas (Sean Maguire, whose accent veers from London to Glasgow and back again) and 13 faithful boyfriends -- er, soldiers -- face off against the Persians and an avalanche of pop-culture detritus. While a slutty Queen Margo (Carmen Electra, of course) tries to distract the men from one another, celebrity not-so-lookalikes and unfunny reality-show takeoffs vie for our attention and gag reflex.

As redundant and tasteless as Queen Margo's crab-infested chastity belt, Meet the Spartans is best described by the reactions of a row of what appeared to be sixth graders who shared the screening with me. As various Spartans slipped one another the tongue (Eewwww!), a nipple clamp was ripped off with the nipple still attached (Aaarghh!) and the Spartans skipped into battle singing I Will Survive (Huh?), I realized the kids had said it all.

Meet the Spartans is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has flying dentures, a flatulent penguin and human testicles smeared with dog food.