Spoof comedies used to be funny - back in the seventies and eighties. With such classics as Airplane, Naked Gun, and Spaceballs, spoofs were not only genuinely entertaining but also very smart in their mockery. Nowadays, spoofs have a very simple formula to them: reference something pertinent in pop culture and either quote it word for word or have the pop culture character have objects thrown at them. This is considered funny? Such is the case for the 300 spoof Meet The Spartans, a train wreck of a movie that’s a frontrunner for the worst movie of 2008.

From Spiderman 3 to Grand Theft Auto to every reality show you can think of, writer/director duo Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg throw as many pop culture references at the screen as they can think of that occurred over the last year. It’s almost as if these guys watched a VH1 Best Week Ever marathon and just wrote a movie around the topics talked about. And if they aren’t lobbing non-sequiturs at you, then they’re making gay jokes about 300. We get it, the Spartans appear to be homosexual in 300, and I don’t need to be reminded every other minute. Many of the other gags here are taken from other films, such as the constant dancing to “I Will Survive” ala The Replacements.

Overall, Meet The Spartans is one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen. This movie only had two things going for it: 1) the fact that it was only 68 minutes long and 2) it gives me hope that one day I will be able to get a movie made in Hollywood.

Because if these guys can do it, I am positive I can.