Epic Movie
| Epic Movie | |
|---|---|
 Promotional film poster for Epic Movie | |
| Directed by | Jason Friedberg Aaron Seltzer |
| Written by | Jason Friedberg Aaron Seltzer |
| Produced by | Paul Schiff |
| Starring | Jayma Mays Jennifer Coolidge Adam Campbell Faune A. Chambers Crispin Glover Darrell Hammond Kal Penn Fred Willard Tim Lockwood David Lehre |
| Cinematography | Shawn Maurer |
| Edited by | Peck Prior |
| Music by | Edward Shearmur |
Production companies | |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date | January 26, 2007 |
Running time | Original theatrical version 85 minutes Unrated version 89 minutes |
| Countries | United States Canada |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million |
| Box office | $86,865,564 (Worldwide) |
Epic Movie is a 2007 American parody film directed and written by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced by Paul Schiff. It was made in a similar style to Date Movie, Friedberg and Seltzer's previous film. The film mostly references The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Plot
The film begins with a parody on The Da Vinci Code. Lucy (Jayma Mays) finding a museum currator murdered by Silas (David Whatley). The museum currator (David Carradine) tells her that the word is Da Vinci. She finds a painting of Mona Lisa and sees with a flash light the writing: 'So lame the hair of Tom' referring to Tom Hanks. Thinking that the word "lame" is a seven-letter word, she runs to a vending machine and presses the number "7" three times and a Willy Wonka Chocolate Bar with a golden ticket comes out of the vending machine, which she takes.
Later the film introduces Edward (Kal Penn) at the Mexican monastery. Ignacio (Jareb Dauplaise) tells him to eat the dead cat and Edward doesn't want to eat it. Ignacio removes his clothes and turns into Nacho Libre, but instead it turns out to be a nacho name, Edward tells him he's the better Lucha Libre wrestler, however Ignacio calls Chancito to teach Edward a lesson. He throws him out of the table, pulls out a golden ticket from a Mexican man, and gets out of the monastery.
Next the film introduces Susan (Faune Chambers). She is going to New Jersey to meet her parents. While she orders water, snakes come out and hijack the plane. Samuel L. Jackson (James Walker, Sr.) pops up starts saying "I have had it with these mother fucking snakes on this mother fucking plane!!" and then throws Susan out the plane so that she would be safe.
Then the film introduces Peter (Adam Campbell). Asking Mystique (Carmen Electra) to come with him to the student's ballroom but is bullied by Wolverine (Vince Vieluf) and his gang: Storm (Kahshanna Evans), Cyclops (Tad Hilgenbrinck), Rogue (Lindsey Kraft) and Magneto (Jim Piddock) and when Peter unleashes his powers Storm cursed him to be scared of every thing and finds a golden ticket fell on his hand and cancel his studies at Mutants High School. Each receive a golden ticket in a chocolate. This ticket entitles them to visit the Wonka Chocolate Factory. Willy (Crispin Glover) reveals to the kids the secret ingredient in his candy is "real human parts", and "there is a bit of each and everyone of you of you in my yummy yum candy, literally.". After successfully retrieving the "super special ingredients" from their bodies, Willy holds the orphans captive. Lucy soon finds a closet, and after a series of items fall on her, she climbs inside and meets Mr. Tumnus (Hector Jiminez).
He welcomes Lucy to Gnarnia by showing her around his home and, through a recorded message which self destructs, warns her of the grave danger she is in. Edward follows Lucy to Gnarnia and meets the White Bitch (Jennifer Coolidge) commenting with awe "Stifler's Mom..."("what a MILF" in the unrated version, referring to her past role in the American Pie series). She convinces him to trap the other orphans and he can be the king of Gnarnia in her White Castle, to which he says, "Yeah, I think I've already been there..." (Referring to Kal Penn's work in the aforementioned film). Everyone makes his or her way to Mr. Tumnus' house, where the orphans discover that they are all related to one another, and that the White Bitch killed their parents. Edward goes to see the White Bitch at her castle and realizes all she cares about are the other orphans. He realizes that she is evil and refuses to tell her where the other orphans are. Unfortunately, the White Bitch flashes him her breasts, and Edward, transfixed, gives her the information unhesitatingly. He is then Punk'd, and locked in the castle prison. The White Bitch sets up Silas after Peter, Susan and Lucy. Harry Beaver sends Lucy, Susan, and Peter out of the winter scenery and into the woods to train for the war while Silas shoots Mr Tumnus. They end up meeting a graying Harry Potter (Kevin McDonald), along with a balding Ron Weasley (George Alvarez), and a pregnant Hermione Granger (Crista Flanagan) in Hogwarts. They all help Lucy, Susan, and Peter train for the war. Back at the White Bitch's castle, as she prepares a WMD that will create a new continent for her and her followers to live on, her assistant (Tony Cox) hands her a computer with her MySpace on the screen with an IM from Silas saying that the kids have escaped. Edward tries to find ways to break out of prison, and does so with the help of Captain Jack Swallows (Darrell Hammond). On the ship, Swallows is asked what it is like to be a pirate. The "Lazy Pirate Day" video is a parody of a Saturday Night Live Digital Short, "Lazy Sunday". The females singing and dancing next, is a parody to the Pussycat Dolls song "Beep". Swallows sells Edward to the White Bitch and reveals that the ship they are on is an amusement park ride. The White Bitch then kills Jack Swallows then quotes Lex Luther before Edward grabs the WMD from her, only to accidentally drop it into the water.
Upon finishing their training, Lucy, Susan, and Peter, head to the camp of Aslo (Fred Willard). There they encounter James Bond (Darko Belgrade), Chewbacca, and Borat (Danny Jacobs). Aslo agrees to help the orphans on the condition that he may seduce them, including Peter. However, during the mission to rescue Edward, Aslo finishes off Silas, but is ambushed by White Bitch who quickly kills him off. In spite of losing their leader, the entire camp volunteers to help the orphans fight the White Bitch's army, including Lord of the Rings characters, Robin Hood and his Merry Men and his and Peter's X-Men classmates. But due to a pre-battle party, the foursome realize they are outnumbered because nobody came to help them because Susan puked on them until Jack Swallows arrives on a giant cartwheel to get his revenge against the White Bitch. However, the White Bitch dons a Davey Jones mask and play Miss New Booty on a turntable before throwing the mask at Swallows, causing him to detour out of the fight as the orphans are killed off one by one. As Peter is about to be struck down, he grabs the remote from the movie Click off the ground, which he uses to pause time. He rewinds the orphans' deaths as they all proceed to kill the paused army before using the remote's TiVo menu to erase the White Bitch's evil plot. Before they can kill the White Bitch, Peter stops them and makes a speech about how they will give her a fair trial, yet before the lecture is over, Jack Swallows runs the White Bitch over with his cartwheel. Harry Beaver (Katt Williams) promotes all four of them Kings and Queens of Gnarnia. They rule Gnarnia for many years, and in their old age, they discover the wardrobe once again, and walk through it, becoming young again. Borat appears to congratulate them, before they're crushed by Jack Swallows' giant wheel.
Alternate ending
- In the unrated, longer version of the film , Willy Wonka comes in and says "I told you it was going to be an epic adventure" and then the Oompa-Loompas come in and start singing the Willy Wonka theme song. Willy Wonka then goes in the wardrobe and puts out a (do not disturb) sign that refers to the girl in the wardrobe. Then, Jack Swallows comes in with the wheel and crushes the Oompa-Loompas and the orphans/rulers of Gnarnia.
- In the theatrical edited version, Borat congratulates and then Jack Swallows comes in with the wheel and crushes the orphans/rulers of Gnarnia causing Borat to say " Not ".
Cast
Box office
Epic Movie debuted at #1 at the box office with a gross of $18.6 million over the opening weekend.[1] As of May 8, 2007 the film has grossed $86,865,564, with $39,739,367 of that amount earned domestically, despite negative reviews from critics.[2] The film was an economic success for its producers not least because it had a comparatively low budget, estimated at $20 million (the same as Date Movie).
Critical reception
The film was a financial success despite its extremely negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 21st in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s, with a rating of 2%.[3]
A. O. Scott of The New York Times called the film "irreverent and also appreciative, dragging its satiric prey down to the lowest pop-cultural denominator" and added, "The humor is coarse and occasionally funny. The archly bombastic score . . . is the only thing you might call witty. But happily, Jennifer Coolidge and Fred Willard show up . . . to add some easy, demented class." [4] Mick LaSalle of the San Francisco Chronicle thought "only a complete idiot could think Epic Movie is remotely funny or worth making at all." Describing it as "so bereft of anything resembling wit or inspiration", he wondered, "What were the perpetrators, uh filmmakers, thinking?" [5] In the Los Angeles Times, Alex Chun called the film "nothing more than a disjointed series of scenes and references cobbled together as a backdrop for sophomoric humor," [6] and Ronnie Scheib of Variety said it was "epically unfunny" and "unlikely to join the list of blockbusters it lampoons." [7] The Radio Times said "There's very little that's epic about this senseless parody, but then there's very little that's funny about it, either... It's mind-numbingly, tediously unamusing and is so devoid of imagination it even parodies self-mocking films."[8]
Awards and nominations
Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer were nominated for the "Worst Screenplay" award at the 28th Golden Raspberry Awards. Additionally, the film garnered nominations in two other categories, Worst Remake or Rip-Off and Worst Supporting Actress for Carmen Electra.
Home video
The film was released on DVD on May 22, 2007 in an unrated version, and a theatrical version as well. As of late 2009, 1,040,120 DVDs were sold, bringing in $16,807,388.[9]
References
- ^ Epic Movie - Movie Reviews, Trailers, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes
- ^ Epic Movie (2007)
- ^ "Epic Movie (2007)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 2009-07-26.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|dateformat=ignored (help) - ^ New York Times review
- ^ San Francisco Chronicle review
- ^ Los Angeles Times review
- ^ Variety review
- ^ Radio Times review
- ^ http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2007/EPICM-DVD.php
External links
