Movie Title: Mystery Men

Movie Title: Mystery Men
Rating: 6
Reviewed By: Michael Stevens

Review:

I just do not think that Mystery Men is such a good title for super heroes. Look at the classic names of those that will always be remembered: Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man. In the instances you can pretty much tell what their specialty is, whereas with Mystery Men, you just don't know what they are all about.

In a way the film is more of an attack on your classic superheroes such as those I already mentioned, than a film celebrating a new batch of do-gooders. In this case the classic superhero is Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear, You've Got Mail), who has the feel of a Batman type character. On the other side is a group of wannabes led by Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller, There's Something About Mary), who most just call Roy. Mr. Furious’ great ability is rage, but he rarely is mad enough to harm anyone. His two pals in the wannabe gang are Jeff, AKA The Blue Raja (Hank Azaria, Great Expectations), and Eddie, AKA The Shoveller (William H. Macy, A Civil Action). Jeff has the great ability to throw silverware while Eddie is handy with a shovel. All three are not very good super heroes, but they keep trying time after time even though they really suck. Meanwhile, Captain Amazing solves all the crimes, comes to the rescue of people being victimized, and generally keeps the city safe until one day there is no more crime for him to fight. So his alternate personality, billionaire Lance Hunt, gets Captain Amazing’s arch nemesis Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush, Shakespeare in Love) out of the Looney bin. Unfortunately for the captain, Casanova is able to outsmart him and take him captive, which leaves his rescue up to the wannabes. The boys know they are totally outmatched, so they start recruiting more superheroes in their quest to save the city. Eventually, they land The Bowler (Janeane Garofalo, Dogma), The Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell), and reluctantly The Spleen (Paul Reubens, Doctor Dolittle). The Bowler’s (AKA Carole) abilities come from her bowling ball that contains the skull of her dead father, who was killed by Casanova Frankenstein. Invisible Boy can become invisible, but only when nobody is looking. And The Spleen has the powers of noxious fumes coming out of his ass. Lastly, the group then seeks out the mysterious The Sphinx, played by Wes Studi, who you may remember as Magua in The Last of the Mohicans. The Sphinx talks in riddles and really doesn’t help much. To better equip themselves for the upcoming battle they see Dr. A. Heller, a mad scientist that develops non-lethal weapons. But can this rag-tag group of not really superheroes save the day? And can Roy ever get a date from the cute waitress (Claire Forlani) at the diner? Watch and all will be revealed!

Most of the characters for this film were originally developed as part of the Flaming Carrot comic series from Bob Burden, with some new ones developed by screenwriter Neil Cuthbert. Some other actors in the film are Lena Olin, Eddie Izzard, Louise Lasser, and Artie Lange. Kinka Usher makes his directorial debut with this film.

Mystery Men has some good laughs and even a decent premise. The acting is all right and the special effects are OK. What is lacking are some really awesome jokes and sequences that would make the film hilarious, otherwise it is just a pleasant experience, but nothing memorable. That said, I give it six couches out of ten.

Thanks.