In 2006 Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg struck out on their own after working on the Scary Movie franchise. With them they took the naming convention, _____ Movie. Using their considerable comedy writing skills, they delivered the hit film Date Movie. A year later the duo returned, following up their initial success with another hit, Epic Movie. These guys can seemingly do no wrong, so they decided to branch out. The first thing they did was loan out the naming convention to the fellows behind Superhero Movie, and chose to have their latest film take direct aim at a surprise hit from 2007, 300, naming their newest creation Meet the Spartans. With their third film, they proved that these low budget comedies could be big moneymakers for the studio: Date Movie made $48.5 million, Epic Movie took $39.7 million, and Meet the Spartans topped $38 million. Sure, they all declined from the prior, but don't forget the DVD market!
If you couldn't tell, the opening was laced with sarcasm. These guys wouldn't know comedy if it came up and gave them a big kiss. I actually paid to see Date Movie on the big screen, partially because I like Alyson Hanigan and partially because, I don't know, morbid curiosity? As I suspected, it was terrible (save for the near inspired, and unexpected, spoof of Rize). Epic Movie followed, and I again found myself stuck in a seat watching this thing, it was flat out terrible. So, when Meet the Spartans arrived, I vowed that I would not pay to see it, and I didn't. However, I have discovered that I am unable to avoid it entirely, as the DVD is in my hands, and I have subjected myself to it.
Just one step removed from the title, you will find one thing that is noticeably different from their first two outings. This time around the creative team decided to focus on one film and then filter in the rest of their spoofs into that framework, where their first two times around the scenes would jump from movie to movie. In terms of structure, this is definitely a step up. This approach allows for stronger focus on the jokes, rather than the haphazard mishmash of movies that their prior two movies are. Unfortunately, this new focus on structure did not help them write stronger comedy.
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