March 25, 2008
I cannot imagine an afternoon so rainy that I couldn't find anything better to do than watch this movie. I must admit that 300 was simply crying out to be sent up, but you can in fact have too many jokes about painted on abs and leather underwear - and quite quickly too. Running out of Spartan humour so soon the scriptwriters then went for a scatter-gun approach to target all that is most crass and rubbishy in contemporary pop culture - but do American Idol and the antics of celebrity nincompoops such as Paris Hilton really need sending up? I wished they hadn't bothered after the first twenty minutes. My favourite bit was where the Spartans and the Persians decide to battle it out with street dancing, a la Step Up and Step Up 2, but even here the jokes were unsubtle and occasionally repellant. Sean Maguire (Leonidas) was however scrumptious - I hope to see him in something much better than this soon.