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We probably should have seen this coming.

Fans of C. S. Lewis's The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe spent so many years hoping that someone would turn it into a feature film, that we may not have considered what might happen once it became just another offering at the multiplex. Now comes the inevitable parody: a crass spoof featuring Fred Willard and Jennifer Coolidge (both veterans of the American Pie movies and Christopher Guest's mockumentaries) as vulgar stand-ins for Aslan and the White Witch.

The film is called Epic Movie even though many of the movies it mocks—including Nacho Libre, Snakes on a Plane and Borat—would not qualify as "epic" by most definitions. This movie was not shown to critics before it came out and topped the charts last week, but a few intrepid Christian critics reviewed it all the same.

Adam R. Holz (Plugged In) writes, "There are times I'm sure many Christians wish C. S. Lewis was still around to comment on what he might observe in our deteriorating culture. After seeing Epic Movie, however, I'm glad he's not here to witness how his beloved Narnia has been so sadly—and needlessly—perverted. … I'm sure the film's creators will dismiss inevitable criticism—from those who care about Lewis' story in particular—claiming it comes from stuck-in-the-muds who just don't have a sense of humor. But the funny thing about Epic Movie is that it's neither epic nor funny. It feels twisted for the sake of being twisted. It shocks for the sake of shock. It's like a clueless adolescent who tells a dirty joke over and over again, not realizing (or not caring) that it was never funny in the first place."

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) dismisses it quickly: "Directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer elicit few chuckles amid a mostly witless slog of sophomoric slapstick and lowbrow humor, amounting to an epic waste of time."

So far, the mainstream critics who have bothered to see the film have all given it a thumbs-down.

Joe Carnahan made a good impression five years ago with his gritty, serious cop movie Narc. His newest film—Smokin' Aces—also concerns cops and criminals (and assassins, and bounty hunters, and neo-Nazis, etc., etc., all coming after a single Las Vegas magician), but this time he plays it for violent laughs in a style that many critics say reflects the influence of Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie.

Marcus Yoars (Plugged In) describes the film's graphic scenes of torture, violence and sexuality, and calls the movie "depraved," "convoluted and ultimately pointless," before summing it up: "Lots of crooks. Lots of subplots. Even more senseless, unwarranted violence, sex, language and drug abuse. And in the end, not a single person we really like, much less care about."

Michael Brunt (Past the Popcorn) says the film's two biggest themes are loyalty and betrayal, and concludes, "It's not a perfect vehicle, and you do have to suspend a little disbelief with the timeline and the idea that these larger-than-life hit men can move through society without being noticed. Still, it's a small price to pay if you're a fan of highly stylized crime-action movies. You certainly won't get bored watching."

David DiCerto (Catholic News Service) adds Sam Peckinpah and John Woo to the list of directors whose styles may have influenced this film. He says the film, "though intended as camp, is nevertheless just videogame-style brutality surrounded by a convoluted plot. Even more troubling is the way the murderous, if absurdly over-the-top, mayhem is presented with a hip veneer."

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February (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51