Harboring hatred for “Superhero Movie” is easy enough to do. After parody trash such as last year’s “Epic Movie” and the recent “Meet The Spartans,” it appeared the nail was firmly in the coffin of uneventful spoofs that followed the tradition of classics such as 1980’s “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” series.

But from its onset, the hype surrounding “Superhero Movie” was shockingly positive. Allegedly, director Craig Mazin was hoping to revive parody features by rising above stale pop-culture references in favor of an actual storyline.

From this perspective, “Superhero Movie” succeeds. Outside the admirable semblance of a plot, there are few other triumphs.

The story revolves around the teenaged Rick Riker (Drake Bell), who is bitten by a mutant dragonfly and, once he transforms into a superhero, adopts the appropriate moniker of “The Dragonfly.” Keeping in line with this premise, much of the plot is a basic rewrite of 2002’s “Spider-Man.” Sure, there are a few brief dabbles into the territory of 2000’s “X-Men” and 2005’s “Fantastic Four,” but kudos to Mazin for keeping his eye on the prize by spinning the narrative web in Spidey’s territory.

Unfortunately, “Superhero Movie” only inspires nostalgia for the excellent film being parodied. In terms of storytelling, this facsimile is so lazily constructed it could double as a poor effort from not-so-avid fans. Clearly the overhyped plot was scribed as little more than a springboard for jokes.

Yet said laughs never come, as “Superhero Movie” is largely a film of missed opportunities. There is little room for an unfunny spoof picture in the modern cineplex.

Primarily, the failure derives from a large number of flat jokes. Mazin, who also wrote the film, offers many different types of flubs. Perhaps the most noticeable variety are tech-fueled yuks, which fill the motion picture with a strange blend of net product placement and misplaced enthusiasm for youthful appeal. The filmmakers must believe that the mere mention of web developments such as MySpace and Facebook are hilarious to a target audience fluent with the internet.

Outside of this bizarre Internet emphasis, which will inevitably sprout into an f-list comedy trend, the humor is as stale as your average Adam Sandler rubbish.

Even outside of brainless humor, it is surprising how often potentially humorous situations are not properly mined for significant screen time. The “X-Men” parody is a large part of the film’s advertising campaign, but the short segment in the finished product barely touches on the subject’s rich potential.  “X-Men” was also a frequent target in “Epic Movie,” a film terrible enough to not merit the designation of “comedy.”

The most notable omission is the lack of a proper showdown between The Dragonfly and his nemesis Lou Landers (Christopher McDonald), aka “The Hourglass.” Landers’ power — the ability to suck life out of humans in order to cement his own immortality — is an intriguing plot point that is underexamined. Even more tragic is the final battle between good and evil, which is frequently foreshadowed but stunningly anticlimactic. Woefully undercooked moments such as these give the film the feel of cobbled-together deleted scenes, where a true movie lies underneath all of the pointlessness.

The final insult to the audience is the complete waste of a great supporting cast. Leslie Nielsen, a master of the genre, is shamefully cast aside in his small role as Rick’s supportive, though strangely horny, Uncle Albert. The same can be said of “Arrested Development” alumnus

Jeffrey Tambor, who is little more than a cameo as a self-medicated doctor. Furthermore, the oft-brilliant Tracy Morgan is primarily featured for one extended joke targeting those who are wheelchair-bound, while capable “Scary Movie” series veterans such as Craig Bierko and Regina Hall are stuffed even further back into the mix.

Ultimately, “Superhero Movie” is custom-built as a lowbrow comedy aimed at the tween sector. If you love drooling over Drake Bell while Googling pee jokes, this film is for you. But the rest of us will likely group this as another failure in a string of perennially lazy parody bombs — one in which a championed plot is trumped by painfully lazy wisecracks.

 

“Superhero Movie” was written and directed by Craig Mazin. It received one out of four stars.