This ‘Superhero’ can’t even save itself, let alone the day

If the mere mention of any of these strikes you as funny -- YouTube, Craigslist, Facebook, MySpace, “2 Girls, 1 Cup,” Perez Hilton, Wikipedia -- you are 75% of the way to enjoying most of the humor in “Superhero Movie,” the latest in a series of genre spoofs to open in theaters.

The very act of writing critically about “Superhero Movie” inspires something of an existential crisis -- no one likely to turn out for it is reading this review, and anybody reading this review is probably not inclined to see it under any circumstances.

The title explains the format. This time out, scenes from various movies with superheroes (mostly the “Batman,” “Superman” and “Spider-Man” pictures) are replayed ostensibly for laughs but mostly to provide a framework for a series of predictable “topical” references.

As well, many of the faces featured on the poster, including spoof-cast regulars Craig Bierko, Tracy Morgan, Regina Hall and Pamela Anderson, are quite literally in the movie for seconds, in what might best be considered micro-cameos. As if it matters, the film is credited as being written and directed by Craig Mazin and “stars” Drake Bell and Sara Paxton. (The quote marks make sense now, don’t they?)

As with too many contemporary cultural products, the financial success of these spoof movies and the seemingly bottomless well from which they spring demands some kind of fuller consideration. Watching one of these films in the theater, it seems that texting, surfing your iPhone or talking to your seat mates not only is not verboten, it is required. Not really paying attention is seemingly part of the idea. How else to deal with the slapdash construction and overall sense of lazy self-congratulation?

If anything, it is worth noting how not up-to-the-minute “Superhero Movie” feels. There are no Hillary-Obama jokes (wrong demographic) and nothing to imply a world outside the nexus of pop culture. Though he already has been lampooned in previous installments, Tom Cruise’s recent taped Scientology rap that was, like, online or something, provides more fodder this time out.

If only Cruise would stop providing the spoof-movie creators with material, perhaps they would cease production -- or at least slow down. That would be the work of a true superhero.

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MPAA rating: PG-13 for crude and sexual content, comic violence, drug references and language. Run time: 1 hour, 25 minutes. In wide release.