UNLEASHED in the interregnum between the age of Iron Manand the supposed advance of The Incredible Hulk, the latest mirthless farce from the team that squeezed out Scary Movieis - that's right - a movie about superheroes.
More specifically, it's a low-rent walkthrough of Spider-Manthat occasionally touches it cap to X-Men, Batmanand Fantastic Four. If you've seen those films you have no need to see Superhero Movie. If you haven't them then you and the other people in your cave will find the picture as baffling as it is brainless.
This time round the hero receives his powers from a mutated dragonfly's bite. After unwittingly facilitating his uncle's death, young Rick Riker dons a green suit and embarks on a career fighting crime.
Stuff falls on Rick's head a great deal and various non-super characters from popular culture stick their heads around the door as the film curls its way through the ooze and effluent. Even Leslie Nielsen, looking a tad tired, can do nothing to significantly lighten the mood.
The presence of David Zucker, co-creator of Airplane!, in the credits sets up false expectations that Superhero Moviemight contain the odd decent joke. As it happens, the only innovation in the picture involves a misguided attempt to appear "up-to-date" - not to say "with it" - by making absurdly frequent references to once-fashionable websites. The gags concerning Facebook and Craigslist are, of course, already so far past their sell-by date they may as well deal with the War of the Spanish Succession.
Hopeless, hopeless stuff.
