It looks like National Lampoon is going to honor their rich comedic history by doing a spoof movie about recent “sword and sandal” films. We get the news from movieweb:
National Lampoon, Inc. announced plans for its next in-house feature film production, National Lampoon’s 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas.
301, written by Jason Burinescu, spoofs all of the great sword and sandal epics, such as 300, Troy, Gladiator, and Braveheart. The storyline is centered around Awesomest, the bumbling out of shape general of Sparta who has spent his life failing forward, but is destined for greatness.
National Lampoon used to be a house of comedic gold, and then it jumped a pretty huge shark. I have not been excited about any of their original films in recent history. Van Wilder had some funny stuff in it but was not even close to the level of excellence that was Animal House. The fact that they are sinking to the level of a spoof movie is just a damn dirty shame.
It is no secret that I think spoof movies are a huge waste of time and are the lowest form of comedy possibly ever conceived (save for a select few). I would love to see National Lampoon do an original comedy in a “sword and sandal world,” that could be awesome. Sadly we will get a clip show of movies that we have already seen with predictably horrible jokes.
Now I am intrigued that the lead character in this film will be out of shape. It brings to mind the one man that may be able to redeem this film; his name is John Lovitz.
