On DVD: Superhero Movie

There are those who say that the spoof is dead -- that with the inspiration long tapped out there is nothing left to spoof. And I would wholeheartedly disagree. I think the spoof is alive and well, with masters like Trey Parker and Matt Stone giving us their occasional (and wonderful) attempts, and Edgar Wright and Simon Pegg giving us their British take on the genre with brilliant films like Shaun of the Dead and Hot Fuzz. There's even the occasional blip-on-the-radar like Shoot 'em Up, which serves as the final word on ultra-violence. No, the spoof is not dead.

But for every one of those wonderfully executed titles, there is a Superhero Movie -- on DVD this week -- waiting to prove me wrong.

While nowhere near as crass as its predecessors (Scary Movie and Scary Movie 2), nor as mindless, unfocused, and insipid as the Friedberg/Seltzer films Meet the Spartans and Epic Movie, Superhero Movie rises above that competition by mere inches. It is not a smart film, nor a particularly insightful one. In fact, it falls into the same trap as those noted steaming piles by forgetting the lessons of the truly great spoofs.

All perfect spoofs have one thing in common. No matter the genre they attack or the level of humor they bring to the table, they all tell their own stories as they go along. Shaun of the Dead, Airplane!, Top Secret!, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Princess Bride, Orgazmo -- these are all stories that we can get wrapped up in, even while laughing at the conventions, clichés and stereotypes that they spoof. Superhero Movie doesn't do that. It's the script for Spider-Man, almost scene-for-scene at times, with slapstick or biological humor inserted for effect. Wait until you experience the gut-busting laughter as our hero reveals his love to the girl-next-door while the Aunt May character blows post-dinner wind in their faces. Wow. Stunning, biting satire. The film's two saving graces are the cast-members (who really are trying their best, elevating some pretty gutter material to nearly theatrical levels) and a handful of jokes that actually fall into the realm of satire and parody. There are a few jokes that get it -- and a number of classic Zucker-style set-ups that will make you smile a bit, although they've been done so often that you probably won't laugh out loud.

Now I watched the special extended edition, which beefs up the movie from an almost-endurable 75 minutes to a wince-inducing 82. The box cover proclaims that this version is not only longer but "funnier, and more outrageous!" Thank. God. I can only imagine the experience the poor suckers and saps watching the duller, less outrageous version are enduring. I'd personally like to thank my editor for sending me the longer, clearly funnier and way more outrageous version. Really. Thanks. A lot. I'll try and thank him in person later. After work. When he's walking out to his car through that dark parking lot.

Normally with a movie this bad, watching the extras is unfathomable. However, if you somehow find yourself strapped to a chair with some deranged Maury Povich Show-castoff holding a pistol against your temple, demanding you sit unblinking through the whole movie, you might want to ask him to hit up the special features afterward. The deleted scenes reel isn't so much a series of scenes as it is a collection of jokes that didn't make the final cut. And a few of them are actually funnier than the rest of the movie.

I also found the deleted alternate ending to be far superior (okay, let's strike the word far, shall we?) to the actual ending. And since Superhero Movie is not really much of a story on its own, it doesn't really matter how it ends. It's not like they're giving us real characters or a series of killer final jokes.

Wish I could say that there's something insightful or funny to be gleaned from the making-of or commentary, but there isn't. It just makes you sad seeing how hard these folks worked and what a great time they had making this, because they weren't able to share so much as a glimmer of that good time with the audience. The saddest part is seeing all of the reverence paid to producer David Zucker (Airplane!, Naked Gun), with everyone mentioning the same three movies he made over 20 years ago. Not once does a single person mention the other films he directed in the meantime.

In fact, there was only one telling sentence in the entire DVD -- the one in which director Craig Mazin reveals that you have to balance your humor without being "too clever." And while I certainly see the merit in that when marketing to a large audience, I have no fear that he will be in danger of crossing that line any time soon.

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