Mystery Men (1999)

As bad as its reputation suggests....

I decided to watch this the other night, despite its reputation as a really bad film. Well, my low expectations were met. It's an OK concept (rejected superheroes team up to gain self respect), but the execution of the film is all wrong. It might have been better (though not by much) as a sketch, not a full length feature film (and it's a relatively long film at 2 hours). It has a great cast (William H. Macy, Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush, Janeane Garofalo, Hank Azaria), but here they try way too hard to make this film "hip" and "cool", and they fail, simply because the source material is tired and lame. There is only so much good actors can do when the script is chop blocking them at the knees when the refs aren't looking. Ben Stiller looks like he's channeling his Bruce Springsteen impression from his 1992 TV show. I've never been much of a fan of Stiller's, but I could tell he didn't want to do this film at all, and his displeasure shows through every frame (reportedly, he didn't want to do it, but Janeane Garofalo talked him into it. It's not surprising that this was the last project they colloborated on). I felt bad for him being stuck in this bad movie. This is one of the few real duds he's made. Janeane Garofalo's character, the Bowler, is dull, and what's with the overdone Goth makeup on Janeane? It makes her look like a troll, and considering how beautiful she really is, it's a deep insult to her. It reminds me a bit of the film The Truth about Cats and Dogs, where Michael Lehman (the director) shoots her character in shadows and darkness, making her look ugly, despite the fact that she's the prettier one. The dialogue is lame, and despite the fact it's supposed to be a "hip" parody of superhero movies, one can't help but think that the studios that financed it wanted it to be a super hero franchise. Perhaps this is why they got such high ended talent for it. Overall, it's a pretty poor film, despite a good cast and some good production design. September 29, 2008

You must lash out with every limb, like the octopus who plays the drums

Mystery Men is a tale of wannabe superheroes in the shadow of Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), who has cleaned up Champion City so well that he needs Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush) to be released from the insane asylum so he'll have someone to battle (his publicist insists that he must do something spectacular to appease his advertisers). Greg is great as the smarmy Captain with an insincere toothpaste grin (what there is of him before he gets fried in a psychofrakulater).

The sudden departure of the Captain makes room for the Mystery Men to save Champion City from the evil Casanova Frankenstein. With a great cast of character actors and comedians, you'd think this movie would be funny, but director Kinka Usher is not up to the task. Though you have Simpson's voice whiz Hank Azaria playing The Blue Raja (who hurls silverware), Ben Stiller as rageholic Mr. Furious, Janeanne Garofalo as The Bowler (with her father's skull embedded in the bowling ball)--not to mention Tom Waits, Paul Reubens, Ricky Jay, Wes Studi, and Eddie Izzard, the film has its moments, but it never lives up to its potential. Janeanne Garofalo soon grows tiresome with her usual shtick, though her dialogue with her father's skull is sometimes amusing, and one scene where she gives an impromptu speech about independent film is brilliant. Director Kinka Usher had her improvise to fill time but ended up using the footage, as it was way better than anything the writers came up with. As inept but earnest superheroes, William H. Macy is the only one who scores as The Shoveller, while the twisted genius of Paul Reubens is wasted as a rotten toothed and pustule faced character called The Spleen whose super power is flatulence.

The Shoveller: Come on, somebody do something, we need him.
The Bowler: Okay. Okay, you're a very furious man, you understand that?
Mr. Furious: No.
The Bowler: No? Well you've got a lot to be furious about, and I'll tell you why: You're not well-liked. You're uh, you're abrasive and off- putting. You try and say pithy things, but your wit is a hindrance and therefore nothing is provocative. Just mixed metaphors. Now, doesn't that make you angry? Does it infuriate you?
Mr. Furious: No.
The Bowler: Well, it should. Aren't you angry? Come on, man!
The Shoveller: Your penmanship is atrocious!
The Sphinx: You dress in the manner of a male prostitute!

Reality Bites (10th Anniversary Edition) (1994) .... Ben Stiller was yuppie Michael Grates, vying for the affections of Winona Ryder against rival slacker Ethan Hawke. Janeanne Garofalo was gal pal Vickie Miner.
There's Something About Mary (1998) .... Ben Stiller plays Ted Stroehmann opposite Carmen Diaz.
Boogie Nights (1997) .... Little Bill was played by William H. Macy.
Fargo (1996) .... William H. Macy was Jerome 'Jerry' Lundegaard.
Shine (1996) .... Geoffrey Rush played piano whiz David Helfgott as an Adult.
Quills (2000) .... Who better to portray The Marquis de Sade than Geoffrey Rush?
Wonderland (2003) .... Janeanne Garofalo was Joy Miller in this bio of John Holmes starring Val Kilmer.
The Truth About Cats & Dogs (1996) .... Garofalo was Abby the Vet with a call-in radio show in this surprisingly good romcom.
Auto Focus (2002) .... Greg Kinnear played Hogan's Hero, Bob Crane, in this gritty murder mystery based on Crane's untimely death.
Little Miss Sunshine (2006) .... Greg shines as the uptight and obsessively optimistic Richard Hoover

The Sphinx (Wes Studi): You must lash out with every limb, like the octopus who plays the drums.
July 22, 2008

Mystrey Men HD-DVD

Fun movie - great price - movie came ahead of estimated delivery time, what else can you ask for. Love shopping at Amazon June 4, 2008

A Fun Sci-Fi/Comic book/Comedy

In a few sentence review: This is a fun movie good for a rainy day or lazy weekend afternoon. You will enjoy the banter between the characters and find the film quite humorous, but do not expect to actually laugh out loud much. (I didn't at all).


For the film reference buff:
It is sure to please fans of any of the notable stars of the film: Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Paul Reubens, Janeane Garofalo, Kel Mitchell (of All That on Nickelodeon in the mid-90's),Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Waits, Eddie Izzard and Artie Lange. Even Dane Cook and Praz from the Fugees are in it. All cast members do a fine job of portraying their respected characters.

The director, Kinka Usher, this was his first and only directed movie. He is most famous for his direction of the "Yo Quiero Taco Bell" commercials.

For cinematography junkies:
The art direction was superb. The costumes were perfectly ridiculous. The city was dark and gritty. I particularly enjoyed the scenes of "Champion City" as it was called. This includes set design similar to most Sci-Fi movies, however it seems I just can't get enough of it. The idea to throw in other languages on billboards throughout the city was also quite clever, particularly the choice of languages: English, Hindi, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese. These are some of the most widely spoken languages today (by number of speakers).

March 28, 2008

Mystery Stars

Mystery Men is a weird, off-beat comedy not unlike the strange 80's classic, Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension. Want-to-be heroes try to make their way up to the popular status of fictional Champion City's current hero, Captain Amazing (Greg Kinear), an endorsement-clad, ego enhanced crime fighter. What are really interesting are the appearances of actors (of such caliber as Geoffrey Rush (Casanova Frankenstein) and artist such as Gnarls Barkley (singer of the pop hit "Crazy"), comedian Dane Cook (Waffle Man), and director Michael Bay (one of the Frat Boys). Who knew? March 15, 2008

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