Meet the Spartans Review

Many a spoof movie has been and gone over the years and few of them are remembered well. In recent times the spoof mantle has been taken on by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, them of Scary Movie fame. Their latest effort "Meet the Spartans" is a parody of the action gore-fest "300". King Leonidis (Sean Maguire) and the Spartan army Captain (Kevin Sorbo) must fight to defend their kingdom from the great Persian King Xerxes and his much larger army.

The heroic Leonidas, armed with nothing but leather underwear and a cape, leads a ragtag group of 13 Spartans against the invading Persians whose ranks include Ghost Rider, Rocky Balboa and The Transformers.

The gags come thick and fast in this spoof with a particular emphasis on the "thick". Barely a moment goes by where some American television star or the likes of Britney Spears and Paris Hilton aren't being parodied in some cheap and shoddy way. While most of the references can be understood by a British audience there are those such as American "Deal or No Deal" that fall even flatter than the recognised parodies.

You can't help feeling while watching this film that this is what a 10-year-old television obsessed American boy might come up with if given free reign to make fart jokes, gay jokes, disgusting visual gags and oogle over Carmen Electra's "boobs" as much as they care to in the name of making their very first movie. It really is that immature.

Not to be completely cynical of course there is a place for this brand of base comedy, and while all comedies are not created equal, "Meet the Spartans" will be sure to entertain the kids and possibly some adults somewhere in the vein of a guilty pleasure.