I was worried about Disaster Movie. The early word-of-mouth was worse than President Bush's approval ratings. But I can't say it's not funny. Unfortunately, I can't say it's funny either, but it inhabits that nether region between funny and not-funny rather well. You don't laugh, or even smile, on the outside, but you do kind of smile, even laugh occasionally, on the inside.
From the same guys who brought us Date Movie and Epic Movie (let that be a warning to you), Disaster Movie offers a whirlwind tour through recent pop-culture history, spoofing everybody and everything in sight. And maybe if the filmmakers had limited their choices - to disaster movies, say - the whole thing wouldn't seem so scattershot. Then again, maybe it would.
Then again, some of the more scattered shots do a better job of hitting their targets. You may ask yourself what Amy Winehouse is even doing here, but at least she's good for a laugh. So is Amy Adams' princess from Enchanted, spreading that icky good cheer, Ellen Page's pregnant teen from Juno, biting into overwritten lines like they're lemons, and Jessica Simpson doing whatever it is she does.
When I found out that three of those four women were played by the same comedienne, Nicole Parker, I was in awe. Likewise, Ike Barinholtz did Batman, Beowulf and Hellboy, among several others. Impressive. Heck, with a little pruning and a better sense of how to lock in on the funny bone, Disaster Movie might have rivaled Airplane! and The Naked Gun. Even so, it's hardly disastrous.