- Disaster Movie
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Disaster Movie 
Theatrical release posterDirected by Jason Friedberg
Aaron SeltzerProduced by Jason Friedberg
Aaron Seltzer
Peter SafranWritten by Jason Friedberg
Aaron SeltzerStarring Matt Lanter
Vanessa MinnilloMusic by Christopher Lennertz Cinematography Shawn Maurer Editing by Peck Prior Studio 3 in the Box Distributed by Lionsgate Release date(s) August 29, 2008 Running time 87 minutes Country United States Language English Budget $20 million Box office $34,816,824 Disaster Movie is a 2008 parody film. It is written and directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, and stars Carmen Electra, Kim Kardashian, Matt Lanter, Nicole Parker, Crista Flanagan, Vanessa Minnillo, and Ike Barinholtz. The film was critically panned and received six nominations for the 29th Golden Raspberry Awards.
Contents
Plot
In the year 10,001 B.C., a caveman (Matt Lanter) runs away from a predator through a plain. He later gets into a fight with Wolf (Ike Barinholtz). After defeating him, the caveman then encounters himself with the predator, a saber-toothed, gasoline-drinking Amy Winehouse (Nicole Parker), who after checking her FaceNook account, informs him that the world will end on August 29, 2008—the release date of the movie—revealing that their fate lies in a crystal skull. The film flash-forwards to the present, where Will (Lanter) is dreaming the previous sequence. He then finds out that his girlfriend Amy (Vanessa Minnillo) is having an affair with Flavor Flav (Abe Spigner), and she breaks up with Will because he is not admitting his true feelings for her.
Later that day, Will has a "Super Duper Sweet Sixteen" party at his house, despite the fact he is twenty-five. The guests are Juney (Crista Flanagan), Dr. Phil (John Di Domenico), Will's best friend Calvin (Gary "G-Thang" Johnson) and Anton Chigurh (Barinholtz), among others. Seth and McLover (Noah Harpster and Austin Scott) are trying to steal the alcohol from the party, and Calvin's girlfriend Lisa (Kim Kardashian), requests Calvin to kill them, but he realizes the distance is not clean. Then the Beautiful Assassin (Carmen Electra) suggests him to attempt to curve a bullet around the room to stop them, but he accidentally kills Dr. Phil, Chigurh and the Beautiful Assassin in the process. By then, Amy arrives with her new boyfriend, a Calvin Klein underwear model (Nick Steele), and the musical number "Friends Forever" is performed by High School kids, an off-key Jessica Simpson (Parker) and J. T. (Jonas Neal).
However, the party comes to a halt when a strong movement shakes the room and lights go out. A bulletin on the radio claims there is a meteor shower and it is the end of the world. Will, Juney, Calvin and Lisa go outside during the shower and find Hannah Montana (Flanagan) crushed by a meteor. Even when she is caught between life and death, she is still promoting her merchandise until her wig falls off, revealing her as Miley Cyrus before she finally dies. While this is occurring, a kid (Ty Wesley) wakes up Hancock (Walter Harris) and mouths at him to go save the world, only to be knocked away as Hancock tries to escape from the city, but hits his head on a streetlight and knocks himself out.
Soon after, the city starts to freeze over, and the group retreats to a garage for shelter. They meet the Sex and the City gals, who comment they are willing to fight for the place. Then, Juney and Carrie Bradshaw (Jason Boegh) start a combat, where Juney wins. When she mentions that the calamities are caused by global warming, Will replies to her that his dream about Amy Winehouse is maybe related. Lisa says that she is getting cold and Calvin suggests they should take their clothes off, but only the girls take them off, and the guys stare in awe until Juney's water brokes. Later, Will has a dream where he confesses to Amy he is a jumper, but when she tells him that she loves him she escapes, but accidentally impales himself on Prince Caspian's (Barinholtz) sword, and Caspian identifies him as "the guy who ruined Star Wars". After Will's dream ends, the group chide with him because he does not commit his relationship with Amy.
The gang leaves the garage and Will gets a call from Amy, where he admits his feelings for her, but the call gets dropped and he decides to go to rescue Amy to her job, but Lisa gets killed by a meteor. While the others comfort a distraught Calvin, the Enchanted Princess (Parker) climbs out of a manhole and gets hit by a taxi, with Calvin catching her as they immediately fall in love with each other. Juney guesses that she is a Princess thrown out of her kingdom by an evil witch, but the Princess explains that she is a "demented homeless chick who lives in the sewers" due to consuming "lots and lots and lots of mind-altering, enchanting drugs". Prince Edwin (Tad Hilgenbrink) challenges Calvin to a dance fight alá Step Up 2 for the love of the Princess, but then a tornado appears and Prince Edwin escapes. Iron Man (Gerrard Fachinni), Hellboy (Barinholtz) and the Hulk (Roland Kickinger) attempts to fight the natural disaster but all are knocked down by cows that the twister sends. When the group finds shelter, Calvin gets a call on his shoe phone from Lisa's mother, who is informed about Lisa's death and how Calvin has found someone hotter than Lisa. Afterward, they encounter rabid knockoffs of Alvin and the Chipmunks, who start attacking the gang and eat Juney's flesh until she dies. The Chipmunks then go after Will and Calvin and they trap them in a trash can, fatally suffocating them as they attempt to escape.
On their way to the museum to save Amy, who called to tell Will she is trapped under a statue, they run into Batman (Barinholtz), who informs them that they must get to the evacuation buses by 9 pm (it is now 5:30 pm) and mentions that there will be no chance of survival if they go to save Amy. Learning that it is closer to nine than he thought, Batman throws a rope, which accidentally lands on a car that drags him away. With time against them, the Princess kills Speed Racer (Jared Eddo) so they can hijack his Mach 5 and drive to the museum. But before departing, they hear someone giggling in the trunk and as they look inside they find Michael Jackson (Christopher Johnson) cuddled up with Spritle and Chim-Chim. After Jackson closes the trunk, they drive to the museum and they save Amy who reveals the Crystal Skull from Will's dream to be the only thing that can stop the end of the world. As Will and Amy make their way to the altar, Calvin and the Princess find that the museum doors are closed and all the artifacts have come alive, including Kung Fu Panda (Yoshio Iizuka), who fights Calvin. When Calvin makes out with the Princess after beating Kung Fu Panda, he accidentally removes her wig and discovers that the Princess is actually a transvestite. While this happens, Kung Fu Panda takes out a katana and knocks out Calvin and the Enchanted Princess.
Meanwhile, Will and Amy run into a nude Beowulf (Barinholtz), who fights with Will. After Beowulf is defeated, Will and Amy encounter Indiana Jones (Tony Cox), who accept to be Will's father. Indiana tries to put the crystal skull on the altar, but he has an accident; Will does it instead, and he averts further destruction. The film ends with a wedding ceremony for Will and Amy being performed by The Guru Shitka (Di Domenico). Then all the characters start to sing the "Dating song" ("Fucking song" on the unrated version), a song about dating each other, which sets off a chain, ending with the Chipmunks.
Cast
- Matt Lanter as Will
- Vanessa Minnillo as Amy
- Gary "G Thang" Johnson as Calvin
- Crista Flanagan as Juney, Hannah Montana
- Nicole Parker as Enchanted Princess, Amy Winehouse, Jessica Simpson
- Kim Kardashian as Lisa Taylor
- Ike Barinholtz as The Policeman, Wolf, Anton Chigurh, Hellboy, Batman, Alex "Alexander" (Beowulf), Prince Caspian
- Carmen Electra as The Beautiful Assassin
- Tony Cox as Indiana Jones
- Tad Hilgenbrink as Prince Edwin
- Nick Steele as Underwear Model
- Jason Boegh as Carrie Bradshaw
- John Di Domenico as Dr. Phil, The Guru Shitka
- Abe Spigner as Flavor Flav
- Christopher Johnson as Michael Jackson
- Jared S. Eddo as Speed Racer
- Yoshio Iizuka as Kung Fu Panda
- Jonas Neal as Justin Timberlake
- Jacob Tolano Wood as Dr. Bruce Banner
- Roland Kickinger as The Incredible Hulk
- Walter Harris as John Hancock
- Gerrard Fachinni as Iron Man
- Johnny Rock as Male Princess
- Devin Crittenden as Paulie Bleeker
- Noah Harpster as Seth
- Austin Michael Scott as McLover
Critical reception
Reviews of Disaster Movie were almost entirely negative; Rotten Tomatoes ranked the film 22nd in the 100 worst reviewed films of the 2000s, with a rating of 2%.[1] Metacritic gave the film a metascore of 15%, based on 12 reviews.[2]
The only positive review posted on Rotten Tomatoes was by Jim Schembri from Australian newspaper The Age. Schembri called it "dumb but also undeniably funny in more spots than a right-thinking mature person feels comfortable admitting", the film was given 3½ stars out of five.[3]
The most positive major critic review listed on either Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes (though it was still listed as "rotten" on the latter) was by Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly, who gave the film a C+ and remarked: "The movie is merciless sending up Juno's self-satisfied hipster gobbledygook, and it's quite funny to see Hannah Montana still promoting her tie-in products as she lies crushed and dying under a meteor."[4] Gleiberman previously contributed the only positive review listed on either site (out of 17 at Metacritic and 57 at Rotten Tomatoes) of Friedberg and Seltzer's earlier effort Epic Movie.[5][6]
The Times newspaper named the film the worst of 2008.[7]
One of the most negative reviews came from Spill.com, in which after a three minute conversation between Korey and the Cohost 3000 where they sharply criticize Friedberg and Seltzer, Korey remarked, "I drank, I beat myself silly, I touched substances I never imagined myself doing before or ever again to prepare for this movie and it didn't help at all!" The website invented a new low rating of "Fuck You" just to rate the film.[8]
On January 21, 2009, the film received six nominations for the 29th Golden Raspberry Awards:[9] The nominations were for: Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actress (Electra), Worst Supporting Actress (Kardashian), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel. Kardashian acknowledged her nomination on her blog, where she graciously commented, "It's an honor just being nominated!"[10]
Box office performance
On its debut in United States theatres, Disaster Movie grossed $2 million on its opening day, $5.8 million over the three-day weekend, and $6.9 million over the four-day weekend (including Labor Day).[11] It ranked #7 for both the three- and four-day weekends. The film's takings for the weekend fell far short of the $17 million predicted by the Dallas Morning News.[12]
The film was not as commercially successful as previous Friedberg/Seltzer movies. Against a $20 million budget, it grossed $14,190,901 domestically and $17,492,474 internationally for a total of $31,683,375 worldwide,[13] less than half the gross of Meet the Spartans.
Home media
The DVD and Blu-ray was released on January 6, 2009. They both included an Unrated "Cataclysmic" Edition and a theatrical version, both with the same extras. About 410,934 DVD units were sold, bringing in $8,447,690 in revenue (updated October 2009).[14]
Awards and nominations
Year Association Category Result 2009 29th Golden Raspberry Awards Worst Picture Nominated Worst Supporting Actress — Kim Kardashian Nominated Worst Supporting Actress — Carmen Electra Nominated Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel Nominated Worst Director — Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer Nominated Worst Screen Play Nominated References
- ^ "Disaster Movie Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/disaster_movie/. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
- ^ "Disaster Movie (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/disastermovie. Retrieved 2008-09-05.
- ^ Schembri, Jim. "Disaster Movie Review". Melbourne. http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/film/film-reviews/disaster-movie/2008/10/09/1223145526498.html. Retrieved 10-09-2008.
- ^ "Movie Review". Entertainment Weekly. http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20222674,00.html. Retrieved 2008-09-03.
- ^ "Epic Movie Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/epic_movie/. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ "Epic Movie (2007): Reviews". Metacritic. http://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/epicmovie. Retrieved 2008-08-30.
- ^ "The 100 Worst Movies of 2008". London: The Times. 2008-12-08. http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/film/article5245052.ece?token=null&offset=84&page=8. Retrieved 2009-12-12.
- ^ Disaster Movie|Spill.com movie review
- ^ John Wilson (2009-01-21). "Razzies.com 2008 Nominations". Razzie Awards. http://www.razzies.com/history/29thNoms.asp. Retrieved 2009-01-21.
- ^ http://kimkardashian.celebuzz.com/2009/01/my-first-razzie-nomination.php
- ^ "Daily Box Office Grosses for Disaster Movie (2008)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?page=daily&id=disastermovie.htm. Retrieved 2008-09-01.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "Disaster Movie (2008)". Box Office Mojo. http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=disastermovie.htm. Retrieved 2008-11-13.
- ^ "Disaster Movie - DVD Sales". The Numbers. http://www.the-numbers.com/movies/2008/DISAT-DVD.php. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
External links
- Official website
- Disaster Movie at the Internet Movie Database
- Disaster Movie at AllRovi
- Disaster Movie at Box Office Mojo
- Disaster Movie at Rotten Tomatoes
- Disaster Movie at Metacritic
Works of Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer Films Date Movie (2006) • Epic Movie (2007) • Meet the Spartans (2008) • Disaster Movie (2008) • Vampires Suck (2010)Screenplays Spy Hard (1996) (with Rick Friedberg and Dick Chudnow) • Scary Movie (2000) (with Shawn & Marlon Wayans, Buddy Johnson and Phil Beauman)Categories:- 2008 films
- American films
- English-language films
- 2000s comedy films
- American disaster films
- American parody films
- Canadian films
- Canadian comedy films
- Films directed by Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer
- Films shot in Louisiana
- Lions Gate Entertainment films
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