There was a time when jokes were actually featured in parody films such as “Airplane!” and “The Naked Gun” but now with “Scary Movie”, “Epic Movie” and the many others, we just get reference after reference. “The Onion Movie” arrives at a time when the parody genre feels like it is on life-support and is done in a sketch style similar to “The Kentucky Fried Movie”. This movie is based on the popular satirical news organisation, The Onion.

The movie has no real plot and instead just consists of a series of skits. A lot of them are done as a satire of news programmes and the growing corporate influence. Aside from that there are fake trailers for a Steven Seagal (“Under Siege”) film called “Cockpuncher”, an amusing look at upgrading your computer and a bunch of other crazy skits.

I did not spot many big names in here with probably the most famous face being Seagal. He plays himself in what is sadly one of the best movies he has been in. Some of the other characters are quite funny with my favourites being the uptight news presenter, the parody of Britney Spears and the Arab terrorists. Also, in the computer sketch notice the lack of subtlety with a character by the name of Gil Bates.

“The Onion Movie” is not a great movie but for a parody film of its era, it is surprisingly fun. I am so sick of seeing parodies that wouldn’t know a joke if it walked right into one, that there is actually something refreshing about “The Onion Movie”. The thing that I was surprised at was that some of the gags seemed a little outdated for 2008 but apparently this film was made in 2003 but sat on the shelf after poor test screenings. I assume “Scary Movie”, “Disaster Movie”, “Superhero Movie” and all the other abysmal parodies were not subject to any scrutiny else they may never have advanced beyond the script stage.