Fridae

The latest in a long list of "... Movie" spoofs,Superhero Movie manages to be better than most of the films that came before it, though not reaching the greatness that was the first Scary Movie. Based largely on the Spider-Man franchise, Superhero Movie's titular superhero is Dragonfly, a nerdy teenager (Drake Bell) that is imbued with superpowers after being bitten by a genetically modified dragonfly. Pratfalls ensue, with varying levels of hilarity, and a lot of juvenile gags that involve the usual bodily fluids and gases.

Plot is really not important in a spoof movie since it's supposed to be copying from other movies, but Superhero Movie's template is surprisingly ancient � instead of Spider-Man 2 or Spider-Man 3, it's actually based on the original Spider-Man that came out six years ago. Not many people are going to be that familiar with that movie's plot anymore, and the use of such a dated movie hurts the film a little.

However, the film does come up with a large number of gags, about half of which actually works � and some of them are very funny indeed. What director-writer Craig Mazin dares to do is to let a joke run on for far longer than expected, pushing the boundaries gradually until there's no choice but to let loose a guffaw (or a groan). It's therefore somewhat entertaining, and is short enough (85 minutes, including about 15 minutes of end credits and outtakes) to not outstay its welcome. As so much of the film is left in between the end credits, staying till the very end is strongly encouraged.