Michele Bachmann misses chance to swim with sharks in 'Sharknado 3'

In "Sharknado 3: Oh Hell No!," Michele Bachmann has the chance to play in the deep end — and is left flailing without a life preserver.

A fleeting cameo in this deliberate slice of horror schlock could have been a bloody rich opportunity for the former Minnesota congresswoman to show she has a sense of humor about her image, much in the same way Sarah Palin used "Saturday Night Live." Instead, Bachmann and other pop-culture targets, including Anthony Weiner, Ann Coulter and David Hasselhoff, are stripped of any chance to laugh at themselves, simply playing chum to an onslaught of flying, flopping sharks who look like they were designed by the team behind Gummi Bears.

"Sharknado 2" — the best of the trilogy — understood that the knowing winks from familiar faces were more fun than the over-the-top special effects. But in this effort, screenwriter Thunder Levin and director Anthony C. Ferrante miss the boat by spending more time destroying Washington, D.C., and the Universal Studios amusement park than carving out some self-deprecating quips for President Mark Cuban.

Let's hope that the inevitable fourth installment has a little more bite. □