They are not clever and, on the basis of Superhero Movie, they are not funny either.

This feeble affair takes the mickey out of Spider-Man as geeky student Rick Riker (Drake Bell) is bitten by a dragonfly and starts to develop superhuman powers.

There are swipes at X-Men and the Fantastic Four, tasteless jokes at the expense of Stephen Hawking, a passing dig at Tom Cruise and an abundance of fart jokes and depressing slapstick scenes where humans make painful contact with inanimate objects again and again.

The one bright spot is Leslie Nielsen as blundering Uncle Albert, otherwise this is even worse than you might have anticipated.

ALLAN'S VERDICT: 1/5
(Cert 12A; 85 mins)