From Nacho Libre and The Chronicles of Narnia to 'MTV Cribs' and 'Treasure Hunters', Epic Movie is like listening to middle school students heckling the latest theatrical releases, but it's twice as annoying because shush the TV screen isn't as effective as scolding youngsters. The movie offers nothing in the way of laughs, plot or themes, and the absence of substance, other than references to other movies and the suspense of which character will fart next, evokes feelings of dread; somewhere in the depths of hell there has to be an audience for Epic Movie.
"What do we love so much about epic movies' Why do we live vicariously through them' Why do they excite us so much'" asks Fred Willard, who plays Aslo, in an Epic Movie featurette for the Fox Movie Channel. Oddly enough, these are valid questions that could indeed be answered with a hilarious satirical spin. Sadly, Epic Movie obviously has no interest in exploring these genre questions. It's more concerned with scantily clad women and the ways to trick Kal Penn into eating shit.
"The key to making a spoof movie that people respond to is being incredibly up to date on everything pop-cultural," explains producer Paul Schiff. If Epic Movie succeeds at anything, it's covering every media pop culture icon in the past five years, coherent plot be damned. But it doesn't inject any observational originality into its references; Epic Movie merely regurgitates what we've already seen at a rapid, yet mind-numbing pace.
What directors Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg have added into the film, is a painful, original music video attempting to "spoof" Pirates of the Caribbean. "I don't know why we always like music in movies. Maybe because it feels like something different, something fun and upbeat," says Seltzer. "There's also a hole in the market because Weird Al, you haven't seen him in a while and we just want to fill that void," Friedberg added. Like the movie itself, the stupidity of the schlock-makers speaks for itself. "I can't believe they pay us for this," said the captain Jack spoofer. Quite frankly, neither can the rest of us.
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Epic Movie (Unrated Edition) - DVD
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