“You’ve got Snakes!!” read the subject line of my e-mail. My boyfriend sent the message to me nearly three weeks ago as the build up for Samuel L. Jackson’s anticipated film, “Snakes on a Plane,” increased.

I opened the letter with some interest to find a link to a personalized command from Jackson himself. His voice flowed smoothly through the speakers of my computer as various teasers from the movie flashed across the screen. He spoke to me by name and went on to list my hobbies and describe my job. He then told me I had better give all of these up on August 18 to go see him in “the best motion picture ever made.” My amusement grew steadily as his voice became heated and slightly threatening, peaking when he finished his speech by saying “do as I say and you live.” By the end of the message I found it hard to breathe through sobs of laughter. The movie had been a continuous joke and subject of interest in my groups of friends for the past several months, beginning with the first online preview of the film, and we were all looking forward to opening night.

However, despite the major hype that led up to the movie’s premier, my friends and I were part of a group of no more than thirty people to inhabit the 10:30 p.m. showing of “Snakes on a Plane.” The reason for this is not terribly difficult to understand. Despite the e-mails, phone messages, countless mentions throughout the internet, and the various t-shirts, hats, and toys, “Snakes” itself leaves something to be desired. Its plot, a man witnessing a murder in Hawaii and then being transferred back to L.A. under the close supervision of an FBI agent (Jackson), is a thin veil over the true purpose of the film: to show various deadly CGI snakes attacking innocent passengers on a plane with the eventual beat down led by Jackson.

If you are going to see this movie in the hopes of viewing many bloody scenes of death, you will be pleased. If you were to go to this film in the hopes of pure amusement and mirth, centered on Jackson’s classic one-liners, you can also leave with a feeling of great fulfillment. The main example of this is when Jackson delivers his signature line: “I want these mother f****** snakes off this mother f****** plane!” At this point my friends and I broke into applause and cheered along with the rest of the twenty two people in the audience, having waited many months to hear this phrase.

At the end of the night we walked away with an enjoyable memory of a movie that had existed as a long running joke in our group. Although not a film to be remembered for its expert acting and superb story line, it will surely go down in history as the most memorable movie about snakes on a plane ever created. What can we expect next? Perhaps “Rats on a Train?” Or perhaps the road rage movie “Monkeys in my Lane?” Only the future will tell.

Rating: Two and a Half out of Four Stars

Bridget Jones can be reached at [email protected]