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One out of Five stars
Running time: 84 mins

Desperately unfunny comedy that lurches clumsily from one tedious spoof scene to the next, under the mistaken impression that just referencing a film, a celebrity or a reality TV show is enough to get laughs.

What's it all about?
This time round, the makers of Epic Movie and Date Movie go for a direct spoof of one particular film (the already quite ridiculous 300), rather than try and splice together several different plots. Sean Maguire (EastEnders) plays Leonidas, who assembles a loyal army of ten Spartans in order to take on King Xerxes of Persia (Borat's Ken Davitian).

Leonidas' team of warriors includes his loyal Captain, Captain (Kevin Sorbo), Captain's son, Sonnio (Travis Van Winkle) and a chubby but enthusiastic soldier named Dilio (Jareb Dauplaise). Meanwhile, back in Sparta, Leonidas' wife Queen Margo (Carmen Electra) has her hands full with the treacherous Traitoro (Diedrich Bader).

The Bad
The writers are obviously convinced that just chucking in a spoof scene from a well known movie (and there are plenty, ranging from Casino Royal to Spider-Man 3), inflicting pain on a celebrity lookalike (kicking Britney Spears and a host of other celebs into the Pit of Death, making Paris Hilton the villainous hunchback) or referencing a reality TV show (America's Top Model, American Idol and several others) is enough to get laughs. It isn't.

The Worst
The actors do their best but you end up feeling horribly embarrassed for them as there isn't a single funny joke in the entire movie. To add insult to injury, the actual film runs for a mere 74 minutes, with 10 minutes of credits and desperately unfunny out-takes at the end.

Worth seeing?
In a word, no. Meet the Spartans is lazily written, insulting rubbish and it's unquestionably one of the worst films of the year. Avoid like your life depended on it.

Note: Astute readers may have spotted that this review is partly cut and pasted from last year's Epic Movie review. If the filmmakers are going to do lazy rehashes of previous movies, then this is all they deserve.