I’ve defended the works of Leslie Nielsen (“Airplane!”) when few others would. I really enjoyed “Spy Hard” and “Wrongfully Accused” and I even liked “Mr. Magoo”. However, I have to accept that “2001: A Space Travesty” is nothing but a travesty. It makes “Dracula: Dead and Loving It” seem like the first “Naked Gun” by comparison.

The dopey Marshal Dick Dix (Nielsen) is sent to the Moon base Vegan to locate President Clinton after it is believed that he has been replaced by a clone. The movie does not really take that many shots at “2001: A Space Odyssey” as it parodies several other films including “The Fifth Element”, “Total Recall”, “Men In Black” and “The 6th Day”.

No matter how hard he tries, Leslie Nielsen just cannot get a laugh with this material. His character is almost identical to Frank Drebin from “The Naked Gun” and tv’s “Police Squad” but here, he gets nothing particularly funny to say or do. One particularly painful sequence is a spoof of the journey to the Moon from “2001: A Space Odyssey” and you cannot believe that in just a few short decades, Nielsen has gone from “Airplane!” to this. Ophélie Winter and Alexandra Kamp (“Half Past Dead”) also have significant roles here. The President Clinton impression is pretty mediocre. Most of the aliens look pretty terrible.

“2001: A Space Travesty” is pretty awful from beginning to end but the last act is especially bad. Several of the gags and plot elements feel directly lifted from “The Naked Gun” and its sequels. Many of the jokes here rely too heavily on body functions. It’s not as bad as “Scary Movie” or “Epic Movie” but nevertheless, this is a horrendous spoof flick. The only people that might want to see this are those that are determined to see every Leslie Nielsen film out there.