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Meet the Spartans
20th Century Fox

2.7 based on 11 reviews Read critic reviews How did we calculate this? based on 270 votes Read user comments Rate this movie

• Internet Movie Database
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MPAA RATING: PG-13 for crude and sexual content throughout, language and some comic violence

Starring Diedrich Bader, Kevin Sorbo, Emily Wilson, Method Man, Ken Davitian, Jim Piddock, Sean Maguire, and Greg Ellis

The heroic Leonidas, armed with nothing by leather underwear and a cape, leads a ragtag group of 13 - count 'em, 13! -- Spartans to defend their homeland against the invading Persians (whose ranks include Ghost Rider, Rocky Balboa, the Transformers, and a hunchbacked Paris Hilton). (20th Century Fox)

GENRE(S):	Comedy
WRITTEN BY:	Jason Friedberg Aaron Seltzer
DIRECTED BY:	Aaron Seltzer Jason Friedberg
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: June 3, 2008  Theatrical: January 25, 2008
RUNNING TIME:	84 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

58

Entertainment Weekly Clark Collis

Less classic Mel Brooks than middling "Best Week Ever."

38

Boston Globe Mark Feeney

The best thing in Meet the Spartans is the swift kick in the bombast it delivers to the oh-no-not-us homoeroticism of "300."

25

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

The musical number that runs during the closing credits funnier than anything that precedes it, which isn't saying much.

20

The Hollywood Reporter Frank Scheck

Writer-directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer basically reprise the tired formula from their earlier efforts, which is to throw in as many pop culture references as possible to cover up the lack of any real wit.

20

The New York Times Jeannette Catsoulis

Overkill is what Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer do best: as the uncontested titans of the parody genre (with fingers in everything from the “Scary Movie” franchise to the more recent “Epic Movie”) they continue to prove that ridiculing other movies is much easier than making your own.

20

LA Weekly Luke Y. Thompson

Meet the Spartans is a mild improvement over their "Epic Movie," which is like saying that a debilitating fever is more fun than appendicitis, but what’s shocking is how lazy it is, which is a shame for former UK child star/pop singer Sean Maguire, whose Gerard Butler impersonation is spot-on.

10

Variety Joe Leydon

Lazy, lame and painfully unfunny, Meet the Spartans is yet another scrambled-genre parody.

0

The Onion (A.V. Club) Steven Hyden

Meet The Spartans gamely alternates between unfunny gay jokes and violent pratfalls for a good 80 minutes, finding time for not one, but two musical dance numbers set to "I Will Survive."

0

Village Voice Aaron Hillis

Witless, tasteless, formless spoof.

0

Austin Chronicle Kimberley Jones

Hey, guys, when you repurpose a disco hit to poke fun at gay men, not only do you look like assholes, you look like assholes who rip their jokes off of YouTube.

0

Film Threat Felix Vasques Jr.

It’s rare that a movie makes me ill these days, and it’s rare that I can see a movie and hate the people behind it with such abhorrence, but Meet the Spartans rises to the challenge.

The average user rating for this movie is 2.7 (out of 10) based on 270 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Dan L. gave it a0:
American Idol reference might have been funny when it premiered in 2003, but they aren't funny any more. All the jokes tried too hard and despite the fact that I saw it for free, I have never felt like I wasted more time in my life.

Adrian N. gave it a0:
These two incompetent idiots should be ashamed of their work...any other person would have lost their job for producing such rubbish.....this story is based on a real event where three hundred sacrificed themselves...and to have these two despicable people make fun of this is abhorrent...it's like making fun of Schindler's List or the holocaust.

Andrew B. gave it a0:
Wilhelm, I can understand what you're saying, as I've also seen every Family Guy episode and Scary Movies 1-4 (I wasn't a fan of 4, though). However, a piece of toaster strudel would have enough knowledge of pop culture to get every reference in this film, and the piece of toaster strudel would still find the film insufferable. This film makes the Scary Movie series look like the original Star Wars trilogy. The two writers who also directed this, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, are basically prostitutes who get money from mentally impaired 10-year-olds for shameless references mixed with Z-grade slapstick. An online petition should be created in the vein of the one for Uwe Boll: to stop these morality-devoid plagiarizers from ever making another film!

Jared H. gave it a1:
my sister actually liked this movie and it made me want to slap her in the face. this movie is the worst movie ever conceived by man. Whoever keeps on making these movies should get a job at mad tv. i liked scary movie 1 and that's only because it was something new at the time. i can't say this movie's plot sucked because i liked 300 but I'm only 15 and i thought this movie was immature. the jokes were all dumb and their was nothing good about this movie. i gave it a 1 because it made me happy when it was finally over.

Wilhelm B. gave it a10:
As much as I understand why people love artsy movies like Schindler's List, which is in fact a good movie, what I do enjoy the most is a good comedy. It's no wonder I liked this movie, really, as I've seen every Family Guy episode to date, and Scary Movie 1-4, and I loved them all. It seems some people are under the impression that pop-culture references are not jokes. But the point of a joke is to make you laugh, and that's also the point of pop-culture references. With that out of the way, on to the actual review. Meet the Spartans is a sea of pop-culture references, that doesn't border on being overkill, it throws itself headlong into overkill. To truly enjoy this movie, you may need a strong knowledge of American culture, so if you live in the USA, you are all set. But if you live in Europe, you would benefit from studying up on general USA life. I am a European myself, and I can say this, watching Family Guy and South Park really helps. If you enjoy these series, or Scary Movie, you are much more likely to enjoy this movie. It's overflowing with hilarious pop-culture references and, while short on original jokes, it works fine anyway. So, go see it, unless you're hooked on The Godfather. And to all the people who think the ones who like this movie are idiots, I am 14 years old, and English is not my native language. Yet, here I am, writing this elaborate review, proving that you don't need to be stupid to see this movie. In fact, it's the complete opposite. You need to be intelligent to enjoy this movie. Perhaps you will see the movie, perhaps not. If not, you are definately missing out on something great. And with that, I leave you all to your thoughts.

Alfred M. gave it a0:
What a stupid movie, none of this was funny i mean using stupid videos from Youtube on a movie, I don't even think this should be a movie this is a witless dumb HORRIBLE movie what a disgrace to ALL movies.

Mikhail R gave it a5:
In all honesty, this movie isn't nearly as bad as it is being made out to be. Apparently everyone is jumping on the "Ooh, the critics thought it was awful so im just mindlessly agree with them" bandwagon. Sure, the jokes were mostly pop culture references and even those were hit-and-miss, but honestly good comedy is hard to come by these days. IT pulled a few laughs out of me, and although I didn't love it, it fullfilled its purpose.

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