Directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer
Written by: Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer

With Kal Penn Adam Campbell Jennifer Coolidge, Jayma Mays, Faune A. Chambers, Crispin Glover, Tony Cox, Héctor Jiménez, Darrell Hammond, Carmen Electra, Fred Willard, David Carradine, David Lehre, Kevin McDonald

Review by Larry Stanley

Oh, the joy of nailing your hand to a two by four and then hitting yourself in the face with it. Which would still be more fun after the first ten minutes then "Epic Movie" was for its entire run.
Following in the steps of Scary Movies 1-4, Date Movie, and the multitude of horribly unfunny parody and spoof films of the last few yeas, "Epic Movie" might be the worst.
They all follow the same style of humor, or should I say "The same lack of humor style" as many of the others, "Epic Movie" might just be the worst I have seen.
Ok, no; wait, I suddenly remembered just how bad "Date Movie" actually was.
So, "Epic Movie" is not the worst. But why does it try so hard to win that trophy? It just seems like the writers and directors would want to reach a higher level then that.
It is difficult to say what this film is about. If you remember films like "Airplane", "Hot Shots", "Top Secret" or almost any Mel Brooks film,
then you know that to make a good, funny, memorable (in a good way) spoof or parody, you need to take one genre or style of film and work from there.
You don't take a group of films and try to build a spoof around them. You take the various films you are considering using and make them work with the one film
you want to parody. You don't just shove a bunch of movies together and try to force them into a coherent movie.
"Airplane" looked a 'air disaster' genre of films and, using ideas and concepts from other movies, incorporated them into something that has made us laugh for over twenty five years. "Top Secret" took
World War 2 spy films and again using other ideas and concepts from other movies, gave us a fun movie that takes on the test of time and wins. Same with "Hot Shots" who took on the 'top gun' genre.
Mel Brooks has constantly done this with films ranging from "History of the World Part One" to "Men in Tights." I still think "High Anxiety" was the best send up of Hitchcock I have ever seen.
A parody or spoof is not funny because of fart jokes, urine jokes, or other bathroom humor. Once in a film can be funny, if done right. But never more then once.
Now, is there a reason to actually watch "Epic Movie"? Yes. Captain Jack Swallows and if you can't guess what he is a parody of, you need to get out more.
Darrel Hammond does a great job as the knock off Captain Jack Sparrow, and I think if they had made the entire film a parody of the two "Pirates of the Caribbean" would have been a lot funnier and a lot more fun.
Second reason to watch the film? For stand in characters in the fights. When Fred Willard as Aslo fights the albino monk and keeps changing from a middle-aged, flabby white guy to a buff, young Asian marital artist, this is actually funny. And it was fun to see James Bond as well.
Outside of that, nothing. SO, go get the hammer and nails and start pounding. But for Gods sake, skip "Epic Movie."