Line #27 Creator/SeltzerAndFriedberg


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5	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/s2174_gp2299_1501092014.jpg]]
6	[[caption-width-right:350:Left: Aaron Seltzer, Right: Jason Friedberg]]
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8	Aaron Seltzer and Jason Friedberg are a pair of writer/directors that collaborate with each other on all of their projects. They create comedic movies that parody and reference pop culture in the Zucker, Abrams and Zucker style of RapidFireComedy without concern for the overarching plot or characterization.
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10	Their first official project was the 1996 Creator/LeslieNielsen spy parody ''Film/SpyHard'', which was directed by Jason's father Rick Friedberg. It received a lukewarm reception and little notice at the box office. Their next contribution to parody films was one of the many scripts that was folded into the first ''Film/ScaryMovie''.
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12	The duo finally attracted commercial success on their own with the 2006 film ''Film/DateMovie''. While panned by critics, the film made back triple its meager budget and secured them a contract to do a couple more films. They became known for turning out simple, cheap, and quickly produced parody films during the mid-late 2000s, releasing back to back over 2007 and 2008, the latter two films coming out within mere months of each other. Their movies were routinely NotScreenedForCritics. The few critics that ''did'' see them had nothing but scorn for them. However, the duo's successes tend to involve the low-cost of their movies (not a one of them has a budget over $20 million) and their release dates during the typical DumpMonths of January and February when the competition is light and a film simply cashing in on a pop culture craze can stand out.
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14	After ''Film/{{Disaster Movie\|2008}}'' flopped even by their standards (largely due to popping up in August, which has become a much more crowded Dump Month in recent years), they took a short break before jumping on board the ''Literature/TheTwilightSaga'' train with ''Film/VampiresSuck''. While the latter was still not well received, it did slightly better critically than their previous couple of films and returned them to box office glory. They have since released two more projects in 2013, ''The Starving Games''' a clear parody of ''Film/TheHungerGames'', and ''Superfast!'' a ''Film/TheFastAndTheFurious'' parody, in 2015.
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16	Due to the nature of their films largely being simplistic parodies of whatever is popular at the time, a number of other parody films in the same style have been [[{{Misblamed}} wrongly attributed]] to them. This includes ''Film/NotAnotherTeenMovie'', ''Film/SuperheroMovie'' (which was in fact by a ''different'' pair of ''Scary Movie'' alumni), and ''Film/DanceFlick'' (which was actually the Wayans brothers).
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18	!!Films directed by the duo:
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20	[[index]]
21	* ''Film/DateMovie''
22	* ''Film/EpicMovie2007''
23	* ''Film/MeetTheSpartans''
24	* ''Film/DisasterMovie2008''
25	* ''Film/VampiresSuck''
26	* ''The Starving Games''
27	* ''Film/BestNightEver''
28	* ''Superfast!''
29	[[/index]]
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31	This duo tends to attract writing just as negative as their own, so the page is locked.
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33	----
34	!!Their work provides examples of:
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36	* ArtifactTitle: Some of the films have issues with the titles not really representing the content being parodied. As the making-of materials on ''Disaster Movie'' revealed, this is because the films change rather rapidly in production and the title is simply meant to cover what the filmmakers expect to be the most marketable element.
37	* TheCameo: Carmen Electra appears in ''all'' of these movies (and plays a major role in ''Meet The Spartans'') making her, for want of a better term, the series mascot.
38	* CrackFic: Most of the JustForFun/XMeetsY formulas for the Seltzer and Friedberg are bizarre beyond belief, with the very few threads connecting them being that they were in the public's zeitgeist by the time the film was created. For example, "Meet The Spartans" was ''Film/ThreeHundred'' combined with ''Film/MeetTheParents''. As WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic asked: "'''What''' the '''fuck''' do those two things have in common?!"
39	* DesignatedGirlFight: Happens quite a bit in these movies, although the male characters absolutely WouldHitAGirl.
40	* DontExplainTheJoke: Every single reference will be explained flatly to the audience. ''Series/TheSoup'' made fun of this with a parody of the movies entitled "Reference Movie" in which every character parody explained who they were and said "Get it?"
41	* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: All of their films are fairly straight-forward in the title, even excusing for the tenuous connections the films themselves have to their titles.
42	* FanDisservice:
43	** The amount of times they show a woman with extreme cellulite is [[SickAndWrong just downright disturbing]].
44	** The naked "Flavor Flav" is not something anyone wants to see.
45	* FollowTheLeader: ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zQJ5X4YhpFk Spanish Movie]],'' ''Film/SuperheroMovie'', and ''Film/DanceFlick''. Sometimes, these guys are mistakenly credited for the latter two.
46	* GenreKiller: You could argue that the spoof genre would have died out in the late [=2000s=] regardless, as audience tastes moved to "bromance" films, ensemble pieces and more intellectual comedies, not to mention the rise in popularity of quickly-produced (and, therefore, more topical) web-based comedy, but Seltzer and Friedberg helped completely drive the genre into the ground, with ''Disaster Movie'' being seen as the one that officially signified its death. These days, most spoof movies are relegated to Direct-To-Video or digital.
47	* NarrowParody: The movies "parodied" are often only one or two years old. For example, ''Film/DisasterMovie'' had parodies of ''Film/{{Juno}}'', ''Series/HannahMontana'', ''Film/IronMan'', ''Series/SexAndTheCity'', ''Film/{{The Incredible Hulk\|2008}}'', ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'', ''Film/{{Hellboy\|2004}}'', ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', ''Film/{{Hancock}}'', ''Film/AlvinAndTheChipmunks'', ''Film/{{Superbad}}'', ''Film/HighSchoolMusical'', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsonsMovie'', ''Film/TheLoveGuru'', ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'', ''Film/{{Enchanted}}'', ''Film/{{Wanted}}'', ''WesternAnimation/{{Beowulf\|2007}}'', ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum'', ''Film/{{Jumper}}'', and ''Film/TenThousandBC''. None of these movie were older than a year at the time, and many were in fact released after ''Disaster Movie'' hit theaters.
48	* NoBudget: Not much has gone to special effects, while production has been quick to reduce costs. Following ''Vampires Suck'', their later films would be produced on even smaller budgets compared to their Hollywood titles.
49	* NotScreenedForCritics: A tradition for each film, and considering the rather vicious reaction the films tend to get, rather unsurprising.
50	* ParodyNames: Not often, but they're there. [[strike:Film/{{Juno}}]] Juney, the [[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia White]] [[strike:[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia Witch]]]] Bitch, [[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Captain Jack]] [[strike:[[Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean Sparrow]]]] Swallows, [[Literature/TheTwilightSaga Becca Crane]] etc.
51	* ProductionPosse: Usually includes Jerry P. Jacobs and Peter Safran as producers, with regulars like Ike Barinholtz, Crista Flanagan, Carmen Electra or Creator/DiedrichBader as actors. Creator/PixelMagic serves as their usual visual effects contractor.
52	* RapidFireComedy: In the [[Film/{{Airplane}} Abrams, Zucker and Abrams]] style, but most of the time, they throw in near-exact replicas of scenes from other movies instead of jokes.
53	* ReclusiveArtist: Understandably, considering their public reputation, the duo make no spectacle of themselves. They have granted exactly ''one'' hour-long phone [[http://grantland.com/features/surely-they-cant-be-serious/ interview]]. Beyond that, all we have are two photos floating around the internet and some very cryptic, uninformative {{DVD commentar\|y}}ies.
54	* RedundantParody: Sometimes, they make jokes that were present in the original source material. For example, the Wolverine parody in ''Epic Movie'' uses his middle claw to flip Edward the finger. This would be a valid parody of the character... if the real Wolverine didn't do the ''exact same thing'' in the first ''Film/XMen1'' movie.
55	* ReferenceOverdosed: Each film is kind of like seeing about a hundred different movies, TV shows, music videos, viral memes, and other pop culture artifacts squeezed into ~80 minutes. See the NarrowParody entry above for a short list of examples from one film.
56	* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
57	** The duo were the first choice to write and direct ''Film/ScaryMovie 3'', but turned in a script that barely parodied horror films at all, and instead mostly spoofed ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' and ''Franchise/TheLordOfTheRings''. In the duo's defence their script was written in 2001, which was an '''awful''' year for the horror genre -- there were no real high-profile horror releases at all that year, outside of ''Film/TheOthers2001'' and ''Film/JeepersCreepers'', and maybe ''Literature/{{Hannibal}}'' and ''Film/DonnieDarko'' if you're being generous -- but the studio quickly realized that they were more interested in just getting cheap laughs from whatever happened to be popular rather than sticking to what they were actually meant to be spoofing, resulting in them being canned and replaced by David Zucker.
58	** They spent several years trying to sell a script for [[CreatorsOddball a straightforward Liberace biopic]], only forfeiting when ''Film/BehindTheCandelabra'' was produced.
59	** The were supposed to make ''The Biggest Movie of All Time 3D'', a spoof of ''Film/{{Avatar}}'', but nothing came of it outside of some pre-production work.
60	** After ''Epic Movie'', they had plans to helm ''Literature/AChristmasCarol''-style holiday comedy that was sold as a star vehicle for Creator/RainnWilson, but was cancelled days before production would've started due to budget concerns from [[Creator/RegencyEnterprises New Regency]].

Context Creator / SeltzerAndFriedberg