Product Description

By day theyre a bunch of losers but by night theyre mystery men a team of superhero wannabes who emerge fromt he darkness to fight the evil madman cassanova frankenstein and his disco-dancing henchmen. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Release Date: 12/28/2004 Starring: Ben Stiller Janeane Garafalo Run time: 122 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Kinka Usher

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #8769 in DVD
• Brand: Universal Studios
• Released on: 2000-01-11
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English, French
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.com
Ever wonder if there was a class system in the world of superheroes? After all the big names like Superman, Batman, Spider-Man, etc., who were the supporting players? The folks assigned to the less-than-stellar gigs of saving only a small part of the world? According to this intermittently successful send-up of comic book heroism, there are indeed masked heroes who struggle and toil for their moment in the super sun. Based on the Dark Horse comic book series, Mystery Men follows the travails of three B-list avengers--Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller), the Shoveler (William H. Macy), and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria)--as they fight to make themselves known to the citizens of Champion City, quite difficult to do when the flashy Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear, never better) takes all the cool gigs and has product endorsements up the ying-yang. According to them, it's all a matter of timing--never mind that Mr. Furious never rises above a snit, or that the Blue Raja wears green. Their big break comes when Captain Amazing is abducted by the evil Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), and it's up to this motley crew to save Champion City.

Blessed with a wondrously gifted comic cast and full of droll details, Mystery Men struggles in fits and spurts towards its climax. Transcendently witty in parts, it's also woefully sophomoric in others. Literally, this is the kind of movie in which someone gets off a brilliant line and then sits on a fork. Still, when this movie is rolling, it's gleefully on target, thanks primarily to the mordantly cocky Stiller and Janeane Garofalo as a latecomer to the superhero gang; her secret weapon is a bowling ball in which her dead father's head is encased. The comic chemistry between these two is fierce, and when you add the dryly funny Macy and the endearing Azaria (who finally gets a chance to let loose with his comic gifts), it's a hilarious joyride. Too bad that the gas tank is only half-full; this stunning cast deserves a first-rate vehicle. With Tom Waits as a weapons expert, Claire Forlani as the requisite babe, and Paul Reubens as the Spleen, the world's most flatulent superhero. --Mark Englehart

Customer Reviews

We're not your classic heros. We're the other guys.
Being acutely familiar with the source material for this film as I collected many a comic book in my youth, I thought Mystery Men (1999) did a really good job staying close to its' roots. Based on characters created by Bob Burden and showcased within the pages of his 'Flaming Carrot' comic book, Mystery Men highlights those 'not so super' super heroes, the blue collar ones that don't necessarily have the most spectacular powers, but seem to share a desire to protect their fellow man against evil and it's minions.

The film has a pretty impressive ensemble cast including Ben Stiller as Mr. Furious, William H. Macy as The Shoveller, Janeane Garolafo as The Bowler, Paul Rubens as The Spleen, Hank Azaria as The Blue Raja, Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing, and Geoffery Rush as the villain Casanova Frankenstein. The supporting cast includes Claire Forlani, Lena Olin, Tom Waits, Eddie Izzard, Artie Lange, and Louise Lassiter.

The story involves the kidnapping of Capitol City's most popular hero, Captain Amazing (Kinnear) by Casanova Frankenstein, and a small group of less than stellar heroes attempting to rescue him while thwarting the villain's evil scheme to subjugate the city to his will. The core group, consisting of Mr. Furious (his rage is boundless), The Shoveller (he shovels better than anyone), and The Blue Raja (flinger of cutlery), realize they don't have the numbers to go up against Casanova and his gang, so they have a recruitment drive and enlist the aid of The Bowler, whose bowling ball is imbued with the spirit (along with the skull) of her deceased father, Invisible Boy (who can only turn invisible when no one is watching), The Spleen (whose powers involve the ability to produce flatulence and direct it with precision accuracy), and The Sphinx (Wes Studi), whose main power seems to be the ability to produce a conundrum for any situation . Also they acquire some very interesting non-lethal weaponry from a local mad scientist Dr. A Heller (Tom Waits) to assist them in their mission.

The production values in the movie are really wonderful, creating beautifully detailed sets and serve well to create a comic book atmosphere that fit the story well. I was impressed with the director's ability to focus on the core characters just enough to provide the appropriate background, while keeping the secondary characters in the loop. There was a lot going on in the film, so I think this was quite a juggling act. A lot of the humor was tongue in cheek, sort of spoofing the image of the classic superhero, and doing so in a good-natured way. Some of the humor is crude, and the movie does get a little bogged down in silliness at times, but the actors all seemed to have a lot of fun putting forth their performances, and it comes through.

There are a ton of special features available, from deleted scenes, production notes, a history of the Mystery Men from their comic book origins, biographies, a commentary track with the director, recommendations, musical highlights from the film, and more. The deleted scenes are worth checking out as I think they weren't so much removed from the film due to the poor quality of the scenes, but probably a desire to trim the running time of the movie as it is at two hours as released. I probably wouldn't recommend this movie to anyone, but if you have an odd side to your sense of humor, and can appreciate a somewhat subversive look into the world of super heroes, then you may enjoy this film. I you liked this film I would also recommend The Specials (2000), another super hero movie of sorts, with a similar skewed view and a wry sense of humor.

Cookieman108

One Word--Horrendous
I can confidently say this is the worst movie I have ever seen. It is the only movie I have actually walked out of in the theatre it was so awful. I like almost any type of movie, but this had no redeeming factors at all. A good cast was really wasted. Let's put it this way, I'd rather sit through "Beloved" (the second worse movie of all time) again than have to endure 5 minutes of this turkey.

This movie was not very good
Like a previous review for Mystery Men said, "this is not a movie for film snobs." Anyone out there who has not grown up appreciating comic book heroes and such would definitely not enjoy this film. It's one of those movies that serves as mindless entertainment with no brilliant plot twists or mind-bending special effects. This movie does not stimulate the mind at all. If anything, it serves knock some points off your IQ. I definitely felt more stupid after watching this movie.

To give you an example, I''ll note the movie "What Dreams May Come" starring Robin Williams. This movie was a veritable feast for the eyes: the cinematography was so breath-taking that if you looked at a scene too long you literally would forget to breathe. The scenery and cgi were absolutely beautiful. However, the story seriously lacked creativity, it was horribly depressing, and it just plain stunk. It was kind of like smelling a rose and getting stung by a bee. This is the pretty much the same impression Mystery Men left me with. Great sets and costumes, bad story.

The only good parts of this movie consist of three things: the nice sets, the Sphinx's "formulaic" cliches, and Paul Reuben's depiction of the Spleen. He was pretty funny.

If you like comic book heroes and pure action, you'll love this film. If you like movies which stimulate your mind and are brilliantly artistic and filled with break-through ideas, then you will think this movie stinks.