SOMEBODY ought to explain to filmmaker Craig Mazin that in Hollywood, you have to respond quickly to audiences' changing tastes.

It's vital to strike while the iron is hot, especially with vast sums of money riding on the opening weekend box office.

So writing and directing a spoof of Spider-Man, complete with a smutty recreation of the upside down kiss in the rain, some six years after the web-slinging superhero first swung on to the big screen is a completely pointless exercise.

Yet here we have this tongue-in-cheek romp of good versus evil that also takes half-hearted jabs at X-Men, Superman and Fantastic Four among others.

Even if Mazin's film could boast a miasma of polished one-liners and inspired visual jokes - which it can't - there's no escaping the fact that Superhero Movie far exceeds its sell-by date and should be flung into the nearest dustbin.

Student Rick Riker (Bell) is bitten by a genetically engineered dragonfly, investing him with superpowers.

Struggling to conceal his secret identity as the masked Dragonfly, Rick puts his new-found skills to good use and sweeps next-door neighbour Jill (Paxton) off her feet.

Unfortunately, Dragonfly meets his match in The Hourglass, the dastardly alter ego of megalomaniac Dr Lou Lander (McDonald).

Mazin, who co-wrote Scary Movie 3 and Scary Movie 4, takes aim at all the obvious targets, even cajoling Pamela Anderson into a thankless cameo as The Invisible Girl.

A parody of Tom Cruise fails to raise a chuckle and the relentless mockery of Dr Stephen Hawking (a synthesised Robert Joy) is one oafish parody too far.