Common Sense Media Review
By Sandie Angulo Chen
,
based on child development research. How do we rate?
Crude, dumb spoof isn't worth your time or money.
Parents Need to Know
Why Age 15+?
Any Positive Content?
Where to Watch
Videos and Photos
Disaster Movie
Parent and Kid Reviews
Based on 12 parent reviews
Based on 48 kid reviews
Kids say this film is a chaotic mix of offensive humor, excessive swearing, and crude comedy that often fails to deliver genuine laughs, making it unsuitable for younger audiences. While some viewers appreciated its absurdity and found it entertaining, the overwhelming consensus is that it is poorly executed with a weak storyline and offensive content, leaving many feeling it was a complete waste of time.
- offensive humor
- poor execution
- unsuitable for kids
- weak storyline
- chaotic mix
- some entertainment
Summarized with AI
Summarized with AI
What's the Story?
DISASTER MOVIE loosely follows the plotline of Cloverfield, one of the dozens of popular movies being targeted here. While at a party, an unknown catastrophe strikes Manhattan, endangering the lives of Will (Matt Lanter), his ex-girlfriend Amy (Vanessa Minnillo), and random other friends, including Juno-esque pregnant teen Juney (Crista Flanagan) and a Giselle-like (but really crazy) Enchanted princess (Nicole Parker) who actually lives in the sewers. As they attempt to survive falling asteroids, twisters, and other life-threatening phenomena, Will and company bump into many celebrities and re-enact scenes from scores of other movies.
Is It Any Good?
This decade has brought us a series of successively less bearable, virtually unwatchable "comedies" from directors Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, and this is yet another. Unlike the classic genre parodies of the '70s and '80s that left audiences nearly out of breath from laughing so hard, what they make isn't even comedy; it's more like a parade of popular movie characters and celebrities stitched together with punchlines so eye-rollingly predictable that most seventh-graders could have written them.
The actors themselves, a few of whom are MADtv veterans, aren't to blame. None of them is well-known enough -- with the exceptions of Carmen Electra and Kim Kardashian, both of whom have their ample "actorly" assets on display -- to turn down a film role. The fact that Lions Gate keeps giving Friedberg and Seltzer a platform for this dreck is the real disaster.
Talk to Your Kids About ...
Families can talk about whether this film is really a parody of disaster movies. What characteristics of that genre is it making fun of? What other things does the movie mock? Why do you think the filmmakers included so many pop-culture references? Are the celebrity impersonators and sight-gags from other movies funny? Do you think anyone will find any of it funny decades from now, when half of the references will have been forgotten? Does any of it go too far? Are there better examples of spoofs?
Movie Details
- In theaters : August 29, 2008
- On DVD or streaming : January 5, 2009
- Cast : Crista Flanagan , Matt Lanter , Vanessa Minnillo
- Directors : Aaron Seltzer , Jason Friedberg
- Studio : Lionsgate
- Genre : Comedy
- Run time : 90 minutes
- MPAA rating :
- MPAA explanation : crude and sexual content throughout, language, drug references and comic violence.
- Last updated : October 9, 2025
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