Superhero Movie is a comedy send-up of several superhero films such as Spiderman, X-Men and the Fantastic Four. It is from the creators of Scary Movie and The Naked Gun, however it does not quite match the caliber of comedy of those films.
When Rick Riker (Drake Bell) is bitten by a genetically enhanced dragonfly on a school excursion, he begins to develop superpowers like being able to cling to walls and super-strength. After his uncle Albert (Leslie Nielsen) is shot down, Riker decides to use his new-found powers for good and becomes the Dragonfly. Now, burdened with his new gift, Riker must protect his beloved Jill (Sara Paxton) and aunt Lucille (Marion Ross) from villain Lou Landers, aka the Hourglass (Christopher McDonald).
Drake Bell is perfectly cast as the geek-come-superhero character and comedy genius Leslie Nielsen is superb as his oblivious uncle. Even still, not even Nielsen can manage to add that something extra that could have made this film one of the better comedy spoof films.
The film does have some laugh out loud comedy moments, but mostly provides giggles and cringe-worthy moments at times. Fans of the Scary Movie and the Naked Gun series’ will notice re-hashed jokes in this film that were made funny in the before-mentioned films, much to the demise of the comedy potential for this film. Still, even with its flaws, Superhero Movie is a no-brainer comedy that will appeal to fans to of this type of humour and is worth a watch at the cinemas. For those that shy away from this type of comedy, a wait for DVD might be the better alternative.
Fun Fact:
Was originally called “Superhero!”, because of the other David Zucker movies Airplane! (1980) and The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988). It was changed to “Superhero Movie” because of the success of Date Movie (2006) and Epic Movie (2007).
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