Rotten, but enjoyable, if only for unintentional humour

Rating: 4/10 (9 June 2007)

I hate to say this about any superhero film, but here it is: This movie's a bad movie. The plot is sedentary and has only two real action scenes, neither of which are well-handled or much fun. The characters are strictly one-note:
Reed Richards: Science dork, bad at flirting Sue Storm: In love with Reed, a lot (her most defining character moment comes when, still trying to cope with invisibility, she ends up standing in a crowd in nothing but her underwear) Johnny Storm: Hormone-addled teen Ben Grimm: Struggling to cope with his transformation.
The plot is stolen wholesale from Spider-Man 1. Johnny Storm spends the entire movie torturing the movie's most sympathetic, human character, Ben Grimm, and never gets the custard pie in the face he so richly deserves. The characters' backstories are alluded to over and over, but don't try and figure any of it out, because it just doesn't work (Reed's bankrupt...and he can still live in a skyscraper, employ devoted servants, and build fancy machines?).
All this said, bear in mind that if you're looking for a quick superhero fix, you could do worse than F4. The characters (with the exception of Johnny Storm) are likable, the plot is simple and satisfying, and there are a few laughs and thrills.
(Warning--the movie's rated PG, but there's some dirty humour and a female character undresses a lot.)