Epic Movie (2007) starring Kal Penn, Adam Campbell, Jennifer Coolidge, Jayma Mays, Faune A. Chambers, Crispin Glover, Héctor Jiménez, Carmen Electra, Fred Willard directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer Movie Review

Epic Movie (2007)   1/51/51/51/51/5


Jayma Mays as Lucy in Epic Movie

Epic Failure

I don't know why this is the case but when someone delivers a reasonably good spoof movie it opens the floodgates for a load of basically crap ones. In 2000 we got the reasonably amusing "Scary Movie" and then the gates opened and not only did we get the "Scary Movie" sequels but a whole range of other movies such as "Date Movie", "Meet the Spartans" and of course "Epic Movie" which of course is anything but epic. In fact "Epic Movie" almost earns the title of being one of the worst spoof movies because I don't remember laughing once and I enjoy a bit of juvenile nonsense.

4 orphans from 4 different movies each find themselves in possession of a golden ticket and entry to Willy Wonka's chocolate factory where they discover a wardrobe which takes them to the magical kingdom of Gnarnia. Whilst there they learn of the cunning plans that the White Bitch has and so with the help of their friends such as a Beaver and a randy lion must try and defeat her.

Now "Epic Movie" has one saving grace that stops it being completely devoid of any praise and that is the variety of movies which get spoofed. From "The Da Vinci Code" to "Charlie & the Chocolate Factory" it takes a wide spread of movies to try and make fun of. And as such whilst many of these movie references are very obvious at least there is some amusement at watching Crispin Glover doing a Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka.

In fact whilst the cast consists of a lot of people who can pass for a famous character be it a mickey take on Captain Jack or Jareb Dauplaise giving us Nacho Libre a couple of the main stars add something to "Epic Movie". Watching Jayma Mays of "Glee" fame giving us a complete airhead is quite fun even if it is repetitive and at least Kal Penn embraces the daftness of it all whilst maintaining a straight face. But whilst there are other familiar faces such as Carmen Electra through to Jennifer Coolidge these are not as you would expect memorable performances.

But that is as far as praise goes because whilst in the midst of all these various movies we have a storyline which of course is there purely as a vehicle for the humour. And sadly humour is where "Epic Movie" messes it up as whilst it's jam packed with gags which someone thought was funny it didn't once raise a smile let alone a laugh. It all comes across as being rushed with weak gags such as Peter instead of having an amazing set of wings sprout from his back in an "X-Men" spoof has chicken wings. It's just not funny and that is probably the most memorable joke of the lot of them.

"What this all boils down to is that "Epic Movie" is an epic failure because as spoof movies go it is unfunny. There is some ingenuity to it with the various movie spoofs haphazardly placed together but beyond that and the casting of Jayma Mays and Kal Penn there is nothing to praise.


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