Do you remember that? When it seemed like Hollywood was churning out a ton parody movies? It all started with a Scary Movie, then Epic Movie, Meet The Spartans, and Disaster Movie. Now, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer do crap out a couple more parodies following Disaster Movie; however, this 2008 “masterpiece” was the beginning of the end for the genre. Disaster Movie was Trashed by critics and fans alike as it currently stands at 1% on Rotten Tomatoes. So, what is this hot mess all about? It about every nearly pop culture reference that the two filmmakers can cram into its 1hour and 30 minute runtime. Here’s the thing about these “parody” movies, they’re horrendous and not in a “so bad it’s good way” either. Disaster Movie exemplifies the problems most of these films have. In truth, there’s no story to really even talk about here. It’s mainly about this guy who can’t say I love you to his girlfriend. Somehow, Kim Kardashian West gets involves because she’s Kim Kardashian. Oh, and “Juno” gets involved with the gang too for some odd reason. The plot is just the way to get from point A to point B, meaning a slew of endless parodies that don’t make a lick of sense. It’s like Friedberg and Seltzer don’t understand how to craft a parody film. Movies like Airplane, Hot Fuzz, and What We Do In The Shadows are clearly mocking the classic tropes of their respective genre; however, each of those movies are still original stories that can stand on their own two legs. Disaster Movie never feels like a story, just a barrage of gags that both make no sense for the movie and are simply unfunny.
There’s gags about WWE, Hannah Montana, Enchanted, Michael Jackson, Batman, Hellboy, Ironman, The Incredible Hulk, Kung Fu Panda, Alvin and The Chipmunks, My Sweet 16 Party, High School Musical, 10,000 BC, Cloverfield, and Amy Winehouse. There’s a crap ton more that I haven’t even mentioned. It’s not the fact that the film just smacks you in the face with nearly every popular culture reference known to man, Friedberg and Seltzer don’t even do a decent job of setting up the joke. For example, the film starts off with parody of 10,000 BC. Instead of having something clever to say, or even bending tropes of that genre, it’s an excuse to showcase the low brow and easy humor of poop jokes, and unnecessary crack at Amy Winehouse and her alcohol addiction. This entire sequence never ties into the “plot” as the filmmakers use this as a lazy “it was just a dream” moment.
This film is actually a slap to parody films in general. As previously stated, none of the gags or references have anything to say nor does it cleverly play off the tropes of said film it’s mocking, it just ends up being some type of gross out gag that’s tasteless and unfunny. In terms of comedy, that’s nothing wrong with gross out gags. Granted, they’re the lowest form of humor that exists in comedies; however, every now and then, one can generally be funny. One of the best is Bridesmaids, with the sequence of Megan, Lillian, Rita, and Becca dealing with the effects of food poisoning. The difference between this moment and the low brow humor in Disaster Movie is that it doesn’t feel random or lazy. The moment was set-up when Annie took the girls to a Mexican restaurant and it was built-up before the chaos and madness began. The jokes fail to land in Disaster Movie because Friedberg and Seltzer don’t take the time to properly build to any of them. It’s bad enough that the film basically has no plot or characters to root for.
The original premise isn’t a bad one as it could’ve been a fun play off of romantic comedies; however, this is supposed to be Disaster Movie, which is supposed to take a swipe at disaster films. The crazy thing is that disaster films are easy targets for satire or parody. They’re usually overstuffed, over-the-top, CGI blockbusters, but the movie never even tries to tackle the genre its supposed to be making fun of. Exactly what does Hannah Montana and High School Musical have to do with disaster films? In fact, that question could be pretty asked to any of the eye rolling pop culture references that’s crammed into the 90-minute feature. Friedberg and Seltzer’s “parody” kill the genre because they don’t represent what these types of films are supposed to be. Luckily, audiences got tired of these crap movies and Disaster Movie was the first true flop for the duo. Hopefully, if another filmmaker tries their hand at satire then they use Friedberg and Seltzer’s films as a model on what not to do.
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