MOVIE REVIEWS: MEET THE SPARTANS

Meet the Spartans was not screened for critics, who had to shell out hard cash for it at theaters over the weekend (if they bothered to catch it at all). Jeannette Catsoulis of the New York Times saw it at a theater seated near a group of sixth graders. She noted their reactions:"As various Spartans slipped one another the tongue (Eewwww!), a nipple clamp was ripped off with the nipple still attached (Aaarghh!) and the Spartans skipped into battle singing 'I Will Survive' (Huh?), I realized the kids had said it all." Gene Seymour in Newsday made the same point as the kids, saying that the movie "panders for cheap laughs at the expense of just about every vulgar excess in present-day pop culture." Mark Feeney in the Boston Globe wrote that Spartans was a late-night comedy-show sketch "dressed up in feature-length clothing. It's way too much of an OK thing."

28/01/2008