MANILA, Philippines - Seriously lacking in genuinely funny punchlines, ?Superhero Movie? parodies recent comic book-inspired movies. This slapstick-heavy misadventure mostly pokes fun at ?Spider-Man,? ?Batman,? ?Fantastic Four? and ?X-Men,? succeeding in some parts and failing spectacularly in others.

Like other genre-spoofing flicks before it, ?Superhero Movie? treads the obvious routes and gives its grating take on popular scenarios. It has some chuckle-worthy moments, but sometimes resorts to overkill.

It combines the origins of Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker, giving disjointed history to tragic teen loser Rick Riker (Drake Bell). Rick accidentally gains bug-like abilities, and soon creates the costumed identity of Dragonfly to save innocents and combat evildoers, from small-time thugs to super-powered madmen.

Like Peter Parker, Rick has trouble expressing his feelings to his neighbor, Jill Johnson (Sara Paxton). He dodges school bullies in vain, too. But as Dragonfly, he?s able to cut loose, using his powers to trounce lawbreakers, including his arch-enemy, the armored Hourglass (Christopher McDonald).

Grade-school level

?Superhero Movie? isn?t something to expect things from. You hope for a few decent laughs and don?t really mind the half-baked attempts to elicit them. The sheer lowbrow approach in most of the jokes is forgivable; still you wish the film offered more. Maybe clever, geek-pleasing humor, something that really satirizes the rich world of superheroes.

The closest it gets to doing that are the scenes depicting the impracticality of Dragonfly?s first Spidey-esque face mask, and his over-beating some muggers. More than half the time, it just relies on pathetic grade school-level jokes involving flatulence, animal droppings, and mention of body parts. There are telegraphed jokes involving electrified fences and secret identities, too.

Some parts just baffle. There?s the odd discovery that the Invisible Woman (Pamela Anderson) is Professor X?s (Tracy Morgan) secret mistress. Also, the Human Torch (Simon Rex) uses his flame power and is horrifically engulfed by it. Dragonfly?s uninteresting saga is marred further by nonsensical cameos and his boring enmity with Hourglass, whose costume looks too much like Shaquille O?Neal?s armor in ?Steel.?

Better outtakes

Again, it might?ve been a decent campy comedy if it didn?t resort to stringing together gags with punchlines that you see coming from miles away. Plus, good old Leslie Nielsen, who previously appeared in the ?Naked Gun? movie series, plays Rick?s Uncle Albert. He?s still playing the same clueless, bumbling character; but he?s no longer as amusing.

Apart from not finding things to mirthfully exploit in the comics flicks it picked, ?Superhero Movie? has some outtakes at the end credits that are a little funnier than those scenes that made it. But by that time, the poor movie?s a tragic, super-mess that?s already beyond saving.