National Lampoon has lost their everlovin’ mind. While I have great respect for the company that brought us Animal House and the Vacation movies, it’s sufficient to say they’ve gone downhill a bit lately (Paris Hilton in Pledge This! anybody?). Now they’ve decided to don the toga for the first time since Animal House and take on the Spartans.
Madness? This! Is!… Sorry, but you have to admit, the phrase is catchy.
Seriously, though. According to Variety, National Lampoon has announced their upcoming picture, National Lampoon's 301: The Legend of Awesomest Maximus Wallace Leonidas, a parody of recent sword and sandal movies like 300 or Troy. The story is about Awesomest, an out of shape Spartan general who Forest Gumps his way to greatness apparently.
Yes, that sound you’re hearing is Gerard Butler donning his cape and sword to end this atrocity.
Apparently the movie is an attempt to reclaim the once good name of National Lampoon. Rather than just license out their comedic name (as the case was with Pledge This!), they are returning to producing their own films, or picking up distribution of others, such as Adam Rifkin’s Homo Erectus. The overall plan is to become more selective with the titles that bear the National Lampoon moniker.
Hopefully Lampoon can put on a better show than Epic Movie did with its parody earlier this year. I’d say they can’t do much worse, but I actually sat through Pledge This!, one of the low water marks of my career.
