As a rule-of-thumb, any movie containing the word ‘movie’ in its title is best avoided by anyone who can spell the word ‘denominator’.

And – as evinced by the four Scary Movies, Not Another Teen Movie, Date Movie, Epic Movie and Meet the Spartans (working title: Not Another Scary Epic Teen Date Movie) - when it comes to cinematic send-ups made this century, the rule should be made law.

After setting standards of lampoonery as a third of the legendary Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker team who gave us the Airplane!, Naked Gun and Hot Shots series, it’s sad to see that David Zucker has done a ‘Mel Brooks’ and jumped on the bandwagon of cheap knock-offs.

Just as Brooks followed Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein with the woeful Spaceballs and Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Zucker began to undo his good work by directing Scary Movies 3 and 4, both written by Craig Mazin.

But in producing this sorry affair, Zucker not only continues the slide, he literally makes a mockery of himself by allowing writer-director Mazin to steal gags from the entire ZAZ back catalogue.

Plot was never going to matter, but this is lazy even for a parody. It’s simply Spider-Man regurgitated with the odd chunk of Fantastic Four, X-Men and Batman thrown up for good measure.

The comedically challenged Drake Bell plays a hapless geek bestowed with cool powers after being bitten by a dragonfly. The joke is, he can’t fly.

Christopher MacDonald raises nary a titter as Dragonfly's nemesis Hourglass (he’s terminally ill and breaks hourglasses), Pamela Anderson appears in Spandex, Airplane’s Robert Hays makes a pointless cameo, and Leslie Nielsen does a roaring trade in old rope as a retired version of The Naked Gun’s Frank Drebin.

If you’re into head-bumping, leg-humping and referring to women as bitches, knock yourself out.

But aside from one decent gag – a skit on Tom Cruise’s YouTubed Scientology sales pitch – Mazin eschews wit and originality in favour of point-and-laugh meanness.

For his jaw-droppingly cruel treatment of Stephen Hawking alone, Mazin should have his crayons taken away.

Superhero Movie does, however, deliver the most protracted fart gag since Blazing Saddles. Which is fitting, because it’s an absolute stinker.

Elliott Noble