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Meet the Spartans

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Meet the Spartans
Theatrical release poster
Directed byJason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
Written byJason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
Produced byJason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
Peter Safran
StarringSean Maguire
Carmen Electra
Ken Davitian
Kevin Sorbo
Diedrich Bader
Method Man
Nicole Parker
CinematographyShawn Maurer
Edited byPeck Prior
Music byChristopher Lennertz
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Regency Enterprises
Release datesJanuary 25, 2008
Running time1 hr. 15 min.
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million

Meet the Spartans is a 2008 spoof/parody produced and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer. Similar to past movies such as Epic Movie and Date Movie, it pokes fun at various movies in a satirical fashion. Although it references many movies, TV shows, people and pop cultural events, it focuses mainly on the movie 300.

Plot

The film opens with a Spartan elder inspecting a Shrekish baby, he then proceeds to kiss it with the narrator paraphrasing the words of Dilios in the movie 300 about the Spartan selectiveness of their citizens. The baby vomits on the inspector and is then rejected and punted off the hill. With the next baby in hand, the narrator says if it is Vietnamese, Brangelina gets first dibs. Baby Leonidas is then inspected, having a six-pack, biceps, and beard from birth. He is accepted as a Spartan and prepared for his kinghood through his childhood training, from fighting his grandmother to enduring James Bond-style torture. Leonidas is then cast out into the wild, and survives the harsh winter while killing a giant penguin.

Returning a king for his inauguration ceremony, Leonidas sees Margot dancing and asks her to marry him, to which she responds by giving him the combination to her chastity belt. The film then fast forwards to where the story begins, opening with Leonidas training his son, until Captain informs him that a Persian messenger has arrived to present Xerxes's demands for Sparta's submission. Leonidas arrives to greet the messenger in the Spartan way (high-fives for the women and open mouth tongue kisses for the men). After growing angry with the messenger's disrespect, Leonidas kicks him, the messenger's bodyguards, and then several other people he just plain disliked, ranging from Britney Spears to Sanjaya Malakar and the American Idol judges, into "The Pit of Death". As Leonidas walks off he turns to a column, that has a switch that reads "Garbage Disposal", and flips the switch causing the celebrities to spiral to their "death".

Resolving to face the Persians, Leonidas visits the Oracle, proposing an "erotic-sounding" strategy to repel the numerically superior enemy after offering the priests various skin-care lotions for guidance. The Oracle, Ugly Betty, says some well known lines as in "Save the cheerleader, save the world" from Heroes and "Douchebag says what" Leonidas responding with a "What?" Then, the Oracle reveals that Leonidas will die should he go to war. That night, Leonidas and Margo then decide to have sex before Leonidas heads out (which in fact is just Leonidas bench pressing his wife numerous times). Leonidas then goes out to meet the soldiers collected for his departure, and finds that only 13 (not 300) came to the call of war, three among them being Captain, his son (Sonio), and a slightly unfit Spartan named Dilio. The 13 hold hands and skip behind Leonidas to Thermopylae, where they meet Paris Hilton (with a humpback and her left arm deformed), whom they rejected from joining their army. Leonidas and his platoon soon face off with Xerxes' messenger and his Immortals, beating them in a dance contest before driving them off a cliff. Xerxes, impressed, personally approaches Leonidas and attempts to bribe him in a Deal or No Deal fashion. The Spartan king declines, saying that he will instead make the "God King" fall. The Spartans then face the Xerxes army in a "yo momma" fight, ending with a victory in spite of Dilio having his eyes scratched out.

Though victory seemed to in the Spartans' grasp, Paris Hilton reveals the location of the goat path to Xerxes, having been promised her hump removed among her demands. Using a CGI army, Xerxes overpowers the 12 remaining Spartans. However, though his army was defeated, Xerxes finds the Transformer cube and transforms a convertible into his suit of armor, playing both the Rick Roll and "Leave Britney Alone" videos to prove his "godly power". But "Xerxestron" ends up delivering on Leonidas's promise to "fall", though he crushed the surviving Spartans under his bulk. The blind Dilio, who left prior to the final battle, eventually returns to Sparta to tell of Leonidas' final moments. A year later, Dilio leads a force of 100 real Spartans and several thousand more CGI ones to defeat the Persians, but he ends up going the wrong way and leads the Spartans to Malibu, crashing into Lindsay Lohan while she was coming out of rehab again, leaving her bare crotch exposed.

Rating

This movie is rated PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language and some comic violence.

Release dates

  • New Zealand - 24 January 2008
  • USA - 25 January 2008
  • Estonia - 1 February 2008
  • Indonesia - 1 February 2008
  • Iceland - 8 February 2008
  • Russia - 21 February 2008
  • Australia - 28 February 2008
  • Germany - 28 February 2008
  • Hong Kong - 28 February 2008
  • Singapore - 28 February 2008
  • Switzerland - 28 February 2008
  • Argentina - 6 March 2008
  • Sweden - 19 March 2008
  • Finland - 28 March 2008
  • Spain - 28 March 2008
  • UK - 28 March 2008
  • Belgium - 9 April 2008
  • Netherlands - 24 April 2008
  • France - 7 May 2008
  • Italy - 27 June 2008

Cast

Actor/Actress Role/Parody of Movie/TV
Sean Maguire King Leonidas 300
Ken Davitian Xerxes 300 / Transformers
Carmen Electra Queen Margo 300 / Dennis Rodman / Spider Man 3
Kevin Sorbo Captain Hercules
Jareb Dauplaise Dilio 300
Travis Van Winkle Sonio Accepted
Diedrich Bader Traitoro 300 / Spider-Man 3
Hunter Clary Leo Jr. 300
Phil Morris Messenger 300
Method Man Persian Emissary 300
Nicole Parker Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, Ellen DeGeneres and Paula Abdul Extra, The Ellen DeGeneres Show and American Idol
Ryan Fraley Jack Black
Tiffany Claus Angelina Jolie
Nick Steele Kevin Federline Date Movie
Jim Nieb Uwe Boll
Thomas McKenna Tom Cruise
Ike Barinholtz Dane Cook, Bond Villain, Prophet
Zachary Dylan Smith 10-year-old Leonidas
Tony Yalda Sanjaya Malakar American Idol
Nate Haden A. O. Scott At the Movies
Jim Piddock Richard Roeper At the Movies
Christopher Lett Randy Jackson American Idol
Crista Flanagan Oracle/Ugly Betty Ugly Betty / 300
Jesse Lewis IV Ms. Jay America's Next Top Model
Jenny Costa Tyra Banks America's Next Top Model
Belinda Waymouth Twiggy America's Next Top Model
Willie Macc Urban Kid #1
Kenny Yates Urban Kid #2
Tiffany Haddish Urban Girl
Dean Cochran Rocky Balboa, Rambo
Emily Wilson Lindsay Lohan
John Di Domenico Jack Thompson
Tay Zonday Himself "Chocolate Rain"
Sedrick Trotman Himself "Family Guy, Lucky Charms, 13 Going On 30"
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Critical reception

The film received extremely negative reviews from critics. As of February 19, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 3% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 39 reviews. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 9 out of 100, based on 11 reviews — indicating "extreme dislike or disgust" and being the worst received film by the director on the site. British film critic John Hays said "About as awful as putting a pine up your bum." Onomatopoeia11 of rottentomatoes.com stated that the movie was, "worse than swallowing a cyanide capsule."

Box office performance

Despite the negative critical reaction, the film opened in top spot at the US box office, grossing $18,505,530 over its opening weekend , narrowly edging out fellow newcomer Rambo. By February 21, the film had grossed roughly $40 million worldwide, breaking even. The film was marketed towards pre-teen and young adult audiences. Teenagers and young adults made up about 75 percent of the audience.. Meet the spartans for the first week came in #1, second week was at #4, then the third week it was #9.

References

  1. From: Parentpreviews.com
  2. "Meet the Spartans - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  3. "Meet the Spartans (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  4. "Meet the Spartans (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  5. "US Movie Box Office Chart Weekend of January 25, 2008". The Numbers. Retrieved 2008-01-31.
  6. "Moviegoers glad to 'Meet the Spartans'". CNN.com. Retrieved 2008-01-28.
  7. "Moviegoers glad to 'Meet the Spartans'". CNN.com. Retrieved 2008-01-28.

External links

Template:Box Office Leaders USA

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