The Legend of Awesomest Maximus (2011) User Reviews

Not to be taken seriously

[nowego · 5/10 · 18 June 2018]

Some people just dont know how to laugh and go into movies expecting more than they should.

Anyone going into this expecting it to be serious is just nuts, this is a National Lampoon movie after all, they are almost all spoofs of other movies and not meant to be taken seriously.

This is a spoof of a long list of movies, including Gladiator, 300, Troy and Spartacus: Blood and Sand. There are others, but there are too many to mention.

Will Sasso does his usual thing as the movies idiot, an inept Trojan general who got the job because he's married to the daughter of the senile old King Looney (Rip Torn).

While not all the humour is laugh out load it is at least witty and I couldnt help laughing at some of the completely moronic parts.

If you don't like gay jokes, this is one to avoid, the movie is littered with them along with lots of politically incorrect dialogue that might offend.

I liked it and was amused for most of the 90 minutes it ran for.

Fun to watch with friends

[reviewleon · 4/10 · 17 March 2012]

This movie does have some Dirty humors & a mix parody. While i have stopped watching Spoof/comedy based movie for a long time. And the reason is they over do it now a days. I remember great movies like airplane etc & then from year 2000 onward they started to make silly & dumb parody movies that i think was such a waste of time. But when i checked out this one, i had to finish it. It is okay for this genre of movies. I will ask my friends to come over and have a look together,just like the old days. So guys if you are thinking to pass time with your friends & laugh your *** off then have a look for once. And i can assure you guys that you will have a great time. But if you are a hard critics who watch out every scene in detail then this one is not for you.

Not so "awesomest", but not "boringus" either

[kosmasp · 4/10 · 14 June 2014]

I have to admit, I was surprised that this movie wasn't as bad I thought it would be. Not that it is really good either, but it has some nice acting power behind it (not really looking at Ms. Lokken though). There's also a lot of nudity in it, just in case you were wondering. And the movie takes cues from many films of the recent past, including 300, but also Troy and the Spartacus TV show.

The jokes are hit and miss mostly, but they are one thing: not really intelligent. And they don't have to be. This being just a spoof of one genre, it obviously would not want to expand on that. Still if you like "stupid jokes" and remarks, there are worse movies to watch than this

horrible...only for the feeble minded

[andre-koenig · 1/10 · 16 December 2010]

Hailed as an instant classic by some sponsored posts here, this movie does not deliver. If you - like I did - had the Lampoon franchise in good memory, thinking of the Vacation and Christmas movies (the first ones always being better than than the later ones), this will disappoint.

Production value: Most scenes are filmed on beaches and/or with lots of sky above. Acting is far below average.

The humor is geared towards ten to thirteen year olds and it's far worse than the usual fare for that age group.

Stay away if you want to be amused (and are not eleven).

And, completing my ten lines here, I would not have written if this movie hadn't been so utterly disappointing.

Watch 'Vacation' if you need to laugh.

Do NOT bother

[ichocolat · 21 January 2011]

This is a stupid film, plain & simple. This film proves a disgrace to the National Lampoon series. No way this film can compare to the Chevy Chase era in the Vacation series.

The film focuses on making spoof for Troy, 300, & Gladiators. Not that the idea is a bad thing, though, but the execution is.

There are no funny jokes; just crude sexual connotations and crappy, retarded gag reflexes.

Please do something else, rather than watching this film. And please, do not get conned by the sponsored advertisers, who comments just to get you, well, conned.

All time terrible comedy

[tugmyrugplz · 1/10 · 31 July 2023]

Some talented comedians are in this, but don't let that fool you. It's not funny, sexy, or interesting. I watched the first 11 minutes and 34 seconds on Netflix, then flipped to the last 5 to see how it ended and couldn't make it; it was just too painful to watch. The writer and director should be drummed out of the industry and be sentenced to watch this film in its entirety every day for the rest of their lives.

Apparently this review needs 10 lines to be publishable. I find it ironic that the standards required for me to warn you how awful this, this whatever it is (visual sadness?), are apparently higher than the standards required to produce it in the first place.

Really bad

[josua-1989 · 1/10 · 14 December 2010]

Don't waste your time on this. I thought that maybe because this is a Lampoon movie it would be at least funny and watchable. Boy was i wrong.

The jokes are REALLY lame, it does parody some of the scenes from troy and 300 but it's mostly done with no taste and could have been done so much better.

Ultimately if you are into the normal toilet humor and sex jokes then this will maybe entertain you. But even as a parody movie it totally blows.

To think that they are the people who once made Animal House. It's a total disgrace how bad this is.

Just another spoof that will go quietly into oblivion

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 12 December 2010]

Well, this had potential, but it failed on an epic level, like oh so many of the previous National Lampoons movies. There haven't been any real noteworthy Lampoon movies since Chevy Chase did the "Vacation" movies, with one exception being perhaps the "Gold Diggers" movie.

The story in "The Legend of Awesomest Maximus" is just another spoof off former major Hollywood movies, such as "Gladiator", "300" and "Troy". And it didn't fully work the way it was supposed to. I honestly didn't even laugh a single time throughout this entire movie.

Now, I am not saying that everything is bad in this movie. The sets and the costumes, for example, were quite good and had lots of nice, cool details.

And also the cast they had managed to get together for this movie project was also quite impressive. It was weird, but funny, to see Ian Ziering in the role of Testiclees, which was so far off the only thing I have otherwise seen him do in "Beverly Hills 90210". I don't get the hype about Kristanna Loken in this movie, it was not all that impressive. The role of Minoritees, played by Tony Cox, was one of the more memorable roles in the movies, right up alongside Khary Payton who played King Erotic. Now, what really blew me away in "The Legend of Awesomest Maximus" was the fact that they had managed to get Rip Torn on the cast list.

Actually, the fight scenes were cool enough and had enough action to actually be worth sitting through, but "The Legend of Awesomest Maximus" suffered from a very weak storyline and the world didn't really need another spoof to make fun of "300".

Having sat through the entire movie without a single laugh, I can honestly say that the movie is not one that I will be returning to watch a second time, it just doesn't have enough value for that. There were some nice things in the movie, but they were sparse and far apart. But hand on heart, this movie seemed like little more than an excuse to put scantily clad women, breasts and other nudity on the screen. And the language in the movie, wow! Right from the beginning there was cursing, foul language and really inappropriate words for minors. And those facts really dragged the points down on the review scale on my behalf.

Juvenile and Crude, But Has a Few Okay Parts, I Guess

[gavin6942 · 4/10 · 15 March 2012]

What can I say about this film? It is crude, juvenile, features countless topless women... it makes fun of homosexuals, women, Blacks, Jews, the mentally handicapped... the humor revolves around male genitalia constantly... It is as politically incorrect as you can probably get these days.

All that aside, it has some redeeming moments. I am not saying run out and see it. No. I do not want to be held responsible for that. In fact, I would urge you to not see it. It really is one of the final squeals of the National Lampoon legacy. (How you go from making Chevy Chase's finest films to disposable fart jokes is beyond me.)

I spoke with Kristanna Loken (who plays Hotessa) about the film, and she took on the film after reading the script and finding it humorous. While I can see the humor (I admit I laughed a few times), I have to say this will not go down as one of Loken's more memorable roles. If you are a fan of hers, you can probably skip this. If you find her attractive and want to see her with Sophie Monk, then you might be more interested.

In the end, I have to say this film was slightly better than I expected. But I expected the worst, so that means nothing.

Average Viewing Fodder

[djsneakypeaky · 6/10 · 15 December 2010]

Literally hundreds of these Spoof films seem to have been made with the majority of them being absolutely rubbish.

While this movie isn't bad it certainly isn't good either. I actually watched it through to the end, so something made me keep watching (although I'm still trying to figure out what!).

A couple of familiar faces in the cast but mostly no one I'd seen before and the acting wasn't anything special, probably down to the slap-stick script.

The plot is a combination of three films; 300, Gladiator and Troy. Which at times is quite confusing because they pick and choose the parts they felt like, not necessarily what would of worked best.

There are some topless scenes every now and again which are so often guaranteed in movies of this calibre. The main lead plays his character well enough and I'm sure you'll be seeing him again in similar movies.

All in all probably only worth a watch if you have nothing better to do...

Simply Beyond Awful a half star at best

[he88 · 1/10 · 27 February 2022]

I'm a long time fan of National Lampoon. Back when the humor was written by intelligent people who knew how to create great parody out of every day life. I watched ten minutes of this and came away thinking it was written by some boys between 13 to 17 for other boys with that maturity. I just couldn't figure why Will Sasso would agree to such a awful part? It's not the kind of part that helps get really good parts so someone must have had a lot of money to throw away. It's just one of the worse I've ever seen.

A Faithful Documentary of Roman Culture

[dstahl-494-145347 · 10/10 · 5 October 2012]

The Legend of Awesomest Maxiumus is a faithful recollection of the times of the Romans. From the inherent accuracy of the armors and actions of the characters to the way they speak and the gestures they use, it's a beautiful film which I recommend to any culture class or Latin class as a history lesson. Keep in mind, however, that the other reviewers find this as a spoof due to incorrect information spread by the internet about the Romans. This results in some misinterpretation of the intent of this film. The National Lampoon is not only a comedy film making name, but also one of historical significance in the fields of archaeology and historic research. So before you go into a class thinking that Romans were uncouth, arrogant, or at all incapable of providing thought into anything they say, make sure that you watch this movie. It'll set you straight.

Surprisingly good.

[ssvfolder-1 · 6/10 · 15 December 2010]

Wow, I did not expected I'd be laughing during most comedy parts of the movie. Usually spoofs as this one are incredibly stupid and irritating - take 'Meet the Spartans" for example, but this one, despite it's obvious stupidity, actually works. This movie is a mixed spoof of Brave Heart, Gladiator, 300,Troy and Alexander. The cast is great - I think the main reason those stars agreed to do the movie is in order to rejuvenate their careers, because few of them were quite big this time or another. In any case it works. Some jokes are really hilarious. I think it's a first time I gave a movie such as this one such high grade, and I have no regrets. It's a nice way to spend couple of hours in the evening.

Earth to the World, comedy is making fun of people

[kirkendog · 5/10 · 2 March 2023]

As 1 reviewer noted, comedy is dead today because of PC sheep running our media, institutions & Govt. We've let angry F who can't get a M & people who aren't happy with their lot in life dictate how our society is run. We need to give them the bird & keep making good comedies.

The best comedy is telling the truth about everybody with no limits, but too many people today are overly sensitive & you can't be harmful to those wimpy humans. You see it in shows like the Bachelor, where everyone is saying 'my person' instead of my F/M, that is so pathetic that 99.8% of the country has to change their speech because of 0.2%.

Is this the best movie ever, no, but it's hilarious at times & that's even with the bulk of the humor being mostly G humor. A slightly funnier movie for NL is Repli-Kate, worth watching IMO.

Great Spoof

[KaileyLady · 24 September 2011]

I personally felt it was hilarious. Due to the bad reviews on here I was worried, but I strongly disagree with those speaking negatively about it. Perhaps sexual humor just isn't for everyone, but sexuality was more open in the ancient world without the ridiculous guilt factor. I think that's what makes the sexual humor part even better. It mixes today's humor (sexuality, stereotypes, etc.) and pokes fun at ancient times. It also pokes fun at the film "Troy" (among others) which I personally liked, but again there were people for and against that film. So, from my view, I think those against this film were probably also against "Troy" etc. I'd say keep an open mind and it may surprise you! If not, to each their own.

Bad

[orgrabbit · 3/10 · 8 March 2020]

This is just another example of how NOT to make a parody.

For the Love of God, Just Don't

[brhallstrom-24320 · 1/10 · 5 January 2023]

I appreciate low-grade humor to any of the crap they're pumping out these days (if you see or hear "Oscar worthy, run) but this movie is just a steaming cow pie. No redeeming anything. Will Sasso obviously left his best work in the toilet when he left MadTV. The premise is good (on paper) but it's simply NOT FUNNY. A little effort and input from writers older than 11 could've resulted in another Nation Lampoon classic. It's just NOT FUNNY. Even the almighty Rip Torn couldn't save this. Slam your hand in the car door instead. That will be a cheaper and far less painful experience. I saw this on some streaming channel during a free trial. Now there are three grades for movies: theater release, straight to video and streaming.

National Lampoon Movies used to be funny!

[JoeB131 · 3/10 · 28 March 2022]

Remember Animal House and Vacation? Yup. Not so much this one.

So the plot is that Awesomest Maximus is the General for the city of Troy, which is about to go to war with the Greeks over "Ellen of Troy". The film mish-mashes elements from Troy, 300, and Gladiator.

With such rich material to work with, they come up rather short, going for cheap gags instead of funny ones, with a focus on gross-out humor. Will Sasso is likeable enough, but not funny, and most of the supporting cast was phoning it in. Throw in some racist, misogynistic, and homophobic "humor", and it kind of fall flat. They even take some digs at people with special needs/disabilities, because that's always funny.

I'd like to say it completely fails as a comedy, but there were a few scenes I laughed at.

Cringe unfunny parody

[Floated2 · 2/10 · 20 March 2024]

Spoofing several popular prior films such as 300, Troy and Braveheart. Expected to be filled with crude and over the top sexual humor. The problem is the film relies too heavily on its gags and crude humour that nothing is essentially funny. It feels very forced. It's what to expect, continuous sexual, homophobic, racist jokes throughout. None are quite clever and are the standard run of the mill type humor.

Will Sasso is likeable enough but he isn't funny. Tony Cox plays his typical role, the loud mouth talking race accusing "little guy". The women are there for eye candy as there are brief scenes of nudity (extras in a strip club). In the end, it's jus a poor parody with lack of laughs.

LET'S GO TROJANS

[nogodnomasters · 6/10 · 21 December 2018]

The movie is primarily a spoof of "Troy" but tosses in some other film bits for good measure. Will Sasso stars as the blue collar Awesomest Maximus, legendary general of Troy. His wife, Hottessa (Kristanna Loken) is the princess. Her brother is named Orlando instead of Paris (Gary Lundy) who is gay. He absconds with Ellen of Troy (Sophia Monk) in order to make the King of Greece jealous. Ian Ziering plays Testiclees in the manner of Brad Pitt. His incestuous mother looks like Angelina Jolie from "Alexander." I think you get the idea of the satire.

When the movie is not spoofing other movies, the humor is overly sexual. When you divide National Lampoon films into classics and not so classics, this falls below the line. If you enjoyed the film "Your Highness" you might try this one too.

F-bomb, sex, nudity (background strippers mostly, no stars)

Uhu?

[digdog-785-717538 · 8/10 · 21 May 2011]

Too many bad films and all the sudden people wouldn't recognise a good comedy if it came around and took a crap on their shoes;

The Legend of Awesomest Maximus is really really good.

Thats it, end of review.

I said end of review.

No seriously, what is there to say? Great acting ?? Don't need it. Great production ?? Well, not really but, it's not like it's a ugly film. I'd actually say this is a pretty sweet film production-wise.

Look, some films serve a purpose, and Awesomest does it perfectly, if you like comedy like horror fans like Hammer films, and incidentally like girls everywhere like Gigli, then this film is unmissable and yes, it will become a cult hit.

Go see it or rather, rent it, you will not regret it.

Recommended to anyone who is still a little bit immature, and for everyone else who isn't immature, i say get some immaturity back in your life, you old sock.

Final vote 8/10 - should have been a 9, but they got the spelling wrong in the title. Come on, how hard was it to make it "Awesomus" instead of "Awesomest"... jeez, the writers these days..

The stupidest-in-a-good-way movie I've seen in a long time

[JDovjak · 8/10 · 29 December 2010]

"The Legend of Awesomest Maximus" satirizes several sword and sandal movies; mainly "Gladiator", "300", and "Troy". It does so with quite many sex-related jokes, however without being clichéd or cheap. Also, while most other spoofs I've seen so far mainly focus on satirizing other movies' plots (which, in my opinion, gets old sooner or later), TLoAM also focuses more on satirizing the characters and does a pretty good job at that. However, I had the feeling that the acting was a little bit weak during a few scenes - it's not what I would call bad (unfortunately I've seen way worse), but it could be better.

Other positive things I noticed were that the movie a) has an actual plot, b) (in contrast to most other spoofs I've seen so far) isn't packed with tons of teeny-pop-culture references which you have to riddle about for minutes and ultimately still don't understand and c) it's exactly what a spoof is supposed to be but most haven't been lately: FUNNY! Also, while gays and/or bisexuals tend to be the butt of the joke in many movies I was delighted to see this is not the case in this one, despite its many gay/queer jokes.

Orlando (Gary Lundy) and King Erotic (Khary Payton) pretty much steal the show, everyone else did a good job too though. And Rip Torn and Kristanna Loken always make a good addition to a cast.

A word of caution though: If you're the type of person who's squeamish about strong language and/or prudish, you probably shouldn't watch this.

I can say that I felt perfectly entertained during the entire movie and I would definitely love to see it again. Best abs workout I've had in a long while. ;-)

Great comedy

[orlovisk · 10/10 · 23 March 2013]

Finally a fellow compatriot of mine (I mean Jason Burinescu, a romanian guy) took the romanian humour wright into America. We romanians loves very much homosexual and bitch womens who sold they body on every foreign passport. Because we, the romanian male, are just dumb as Maximus Awesomest is! I hope with the contribution of all romanians movie spectators, the final rating to increase from 4 to 10 as it should deserve this awesomest production! Obsviesly the Troy movie from 2003 was great, no doubt of it, but a parody of the incredible events from the past, too much incredible, deserve e parody movie! Anyway, the horrific moral aspects from Tory were very much diluted in exchange of an exaggerated romantism! So a parody remake can bring by parody itself, the realism which was mist in the Troy! And of course, the realism being so cruel, he must be packaged into humour, even if the humour is a little obscen!

Another 8/10-it's got will sasso, YA, its funny Awesomest maximus is funny

[thepotatoHasEyes · 8/10 · 13 February 2013]

I think there are either a lot of depressed people writing reviews or that one guy in the comedy show audience who just refuses to laugh , this is the second or third movie i have watched that had bad reviews on IMDb, that turned out to be really enjoyable

I watch a lot of comedy movies and this one -awesomest maximus -- is definitely funnier than most , i put it right up there with meet the spartans . and i haven't reviewed -305- yet but i watched what i could of it and consider this its review 305 is bad,-

This movie has Will Sasso- he's funny , period . AND THE coach from dodgeball, patches o'whatsisname , he's a king in this movie .

its just comedy , well worth a watch if you have a sense of humor

Before Liberal Feminized Social Justice There Was Unbridled Comedy That Needs a Second Chance

[Dark_Lord_Mark · 10/10 · 17 September 2018]

This movie came out 2011 and was ignored by many. Comedy was edgy and this was just a run of the mill movie.

Sometimes times change people and sometimes people change with the time. This movie is for the former.

It's a parody of various movies. It's Braveheart, 300, Troy with a twist. It was ho hum, but in an era that desperately needs comedy. Awesomest Maximus is what the world needs.

Awesomest Maximus is about Helen of Troy being stowed away. This event triggers war. This is a very funny, offensive,, over the top, get a few beers wth buddies, type of movie.

You get a lot of so bad comedy, it is good. You get childish antics that anyone can laugh at. It takes you back to a time before Social Justice and feminism were used as props to push agendas.

If you are a man, and tired of the 2018 insanity, take a step back into time and enjoy manhood. Enjoy comedy that was tame back then, but grows on you, because you want to be offended.

I give it a 9.5. Those who need a good laugh and need something offensive that pushes the envelop, this is it. Highly Recommended in 2018.