It’s a pit of death alright, but try not to rent it and get sucked into that pit. Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer probably think they’re the new ZAZ but they really are the new DUD as at least Zucker, Abrahams, and Zucker were at least funny.
Leonidas (Sean Maguire) the king of Sparta is approached by the messenger of Xerxes (Ken Davitian), king of Persia, demanding that the Spartans surrender. He pitches this messenger into the pit of death, with several other annoying celebrities, and says that Sparta will never surrender.
Queen Margo (Carmen Electra) fears for her husband’s safety in battle and might be right as only thirteen Spartans show up to defend the homeland, including Captain (Kevin Sorbo), Sonio (Travis Van Winkle), and Dilio (Jareb Dauplaise).
While Leonidas is away in battle Queen Margo faces opposition from Traitoro (Diedrich Bader) for the heart of the Spartan people.
If you’ve not guessed it yet Meet the Spartans is a parody of 300 with a whole lot of the kitchen sink of parodies thrown in. If I see another Britney Spears or Paris Hilton parody I may well throw myself into the pit of death! Those two objects of parody do enough funny and crazy stuff without having to exaggerate it.
Back in the day, the funniest team around was ZAZ which stands for David Zucker, Jim Abrahams, and Jerry Zucker. This trio of mischief was responsible for Airplane!, Naked Gun, and a host of other FUNNY movies. Sure they had their share of bad or lame jokes, but they had far less misses than the team of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer.
Lets get down to the truth of the matter, ZAZ’s stuff is funny no matter if you’ve seen the original movies they parody (I had never watched Airport before watching Airplane!, but it was surprising how well they skewered it and that genre.) and those other two guy’s movies are not.
They may make some ka-ching at the box office (invest it well boys) but it’s because the PG-13 rating make it easier for the kids to get into it (or buy tickets for it and sneak into another movie).
It may have beat Rambo at the box office (though I bet many of those ticked were for empty seats and the buyers snuck into see Sly) but it dropped off quickly as it was an unfunny, stinking film.
Luckily the thing really ends about an hour into it, unluckily it keeps going. Make it stop!
Meet the Spartans is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.85:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions. The PG-13 theatrical cut is available separately.
Special features include Audio Commentary by Cast and Crew (Friedberg, Seltzer, Maguire, Sorbo, Nicole Parker (Paris Hilton, etc.), and Ike Barinholtz (Prophet)), Know Your Spartans Pop Culture Trivia Game, Meet the Spartans: The Music, Prepare for Thrusting Featurette (5 minutes), Tour the Set with Ike Barinholtz Featurette (6 minutes), a gag reel (4 minutes), and some theatrical trailers.
They throw some jokes onto a feces smeared wall and only a few stick, but most stink. If you treasure your time and don’t want to be bored to death, find a pit of death and jump into it (or just don’t rent the movie, whichever is easier).
Meet the Spartans (Unrated 'Pit of Death' Edition) is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
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