They need to buy a dictionary.

Well, I managed to get about five minutes into 'Meet the Spartans' before I turned it off.

Is it just me, or has Hollywood completely forgotten how to make a spoof? I mean, go watch Hot Shots, Airplane or Naked Gun. These movies are spoofs… in the case of Naked Gun, not necessarily great spoofs…but actual spoofs.

You see, a spoof is meant to make fun of the movie it's based on, for example, in 'Hot Shots' they made fun of the clichéd characters in Top Gun, or the classic 80's action movie cliché where the bad guys can never shoot straight while the hero never misses. You spoof something by pointing out, then exaggerating the absurdity already present in the movie. Normal movies tend to be absurd but take themselves seriously…spoofs point out the absurdity in normal movies.

Then, of course, there's the straight jokes. like in Airplane when the press turns up in the control tower, one of them says 'let's get some pictures'…and then they take all the paintings and photographs off the wall.

You know, humor.

Now let me talk you through the first five minutes of 'Meet the Spartans'.

It starts like the opening scene of '300' with the narrator explaining how Spartan babies were examined for defects and any imperfect babies were thrown off a cliff…but then we see a close up of the baby, and it's a baby Shrek who says something about 'titties'

Strike one, movie. This isn't a joke, it's a pointless pop-culture reference that has nothing to do with the movie you're supposedly lampooning.

Then the announcer says that if the baby was Vietnamese, 'Brangelina' had first dibs.

Strike two. This isn't a joke, it's another pointless pop-culture reference.

Then, it cuts forward saying that the young king leonidas was tortured and taught to show no pain…and then it shows him being tortured like James Bond in Casino Royale.

Strike three, movie…you're out, because this isn't a joke, it's just another pop culture reference.

Is anyone noticing a pattern here?

Shortly after this, the Penguin from 'Happy Feet shows up, and then Carmen Electra dances in a skimpy outfit for no reason…then I turned off the movie.

This is a spoof that literally isn't a spoof, it's just a parade of pop-culture references that aren't funny. We're just supposed to laugh because somehow, a celebrity or character from another movie turning up for no reason, saying a catchphrase then leaving is meant to be funny.

Seriously, get on youtube and look at the trailers for all the so-called spoofs that have come out in the past few years (They're easy to spot, they're all called '(Something) Movie". I guarantee you will see the same thing in all of them:

A celebrity will appear on screen, say their catchphrase and then something heavy will fall on them.

Britney Spears/Paris Hilton/Lindsay Lohan will appear and says something to the effect of 'I'm stupid'

Carmen Electra's tits.

I'm sorry, but it's just not funny.