Superhero Movie 2008

A.O. Scott, New York Times: To call Superhero Movie a satire, or even a parody, of the genre specified in its title would be misleading, since those terms imply at least an attempt at wit. But no real mockery is intended by this mindless grab bag of slightly used gags. Read more

Peter Howell, Toronto Star: It looks for all the world as if writer/director Craig Mazin took the screenplay for Spider-Man, propped it up next to his MacBook, and just went through it, inserting fart gags, pratfalls and the lamest of jokes. Read more

J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader: The gags are consistently weak. Read more

Nathan Rabin, AV Club: The film's weakest moments are also its timeliest. Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Superhero Movie would make a decent long-form short on the "Funny or Die" website, but at 85 minutes -- 15 of which are outtake-heavy end credits -- its powers of amiability wear off fast. Read more

Amy Nicholson, Boxoffice Magazine: With jokes packed as tightly together as sliced cheese, the flick's comedy axiom seems to be: Never give the audience a pause to second-guess their laughter Read more

Mark Olsen, Los Angeles Times: The very act of writing critically about Superhero inspires something of an existential crisis -- no one likely to turn out for it is reading this review, and anybody reading this review is probably not inclined to see it under any circumstances. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: There are a few lively bits, and one joke with an edge: a slap at Stephen Hawking and his computer-drone voice. Mostly, though, this is super-lame. Read more

Eric D. Snider, Film.com: It's rather benign, actually -- never very funny, and never amusing for more than a few moments at a time, but not grating or clownish, either. Read more

Luke Y. Thompson, L.A. Weekly: Predictable, flat, full of name-dropping, tragically unhip, and likely to make a decent amount of cash. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: It's a movie for the inner 9 year old in us all. That's the age that most people move on from flatulence jokes, and sniggering whenever they hear the 's' or 'f' words. Read more

Jason Anderson, Globe and Mail: Puerile and idiotic it may be, but Superhero Movie is nonetheless smarter than most of its lowbrow brethren in the Hollywood sub-sub-category known as the spoof movie. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Dennis Harvey, Variety: 70 minutes of good if unmemorable fun sure beats 80 or 90 minutes of excruciating parodies for dummies, a la Date Movie and Epic Movie. Read more

John Anderson, Washington Post: It's a bit late in the game for Superhero Movie, which was never going to fly, and barely crawls. Read more