MYSTERY MEN

"We’ve got a blind date with destiny … and it looks like she’s ordered the lobster." Made me laugh. If you don’t fall into the slightest smile at this line you probably shouldn’t waste your money. Mystery Men is fun. Pure and simple. Not being a comic fan, I’m completely unfamiliar with Bob Burden’s Dark Horse Comic Book Series on which Neil Cuthbert based his screenplay. But familiarity with the genre is enough. It would be difficult to grow up in the latter part of the twentieth century without at least a nodding acquaintance with the likes of Superman, Batman, Spiderman and the like. Mystery Men not only provides us with a great satire of the stuff of which such superheroes are made, but also gives us a nice set of underdogs with whom to identify. Anyone who’s ever looked in the mirror and imagined themselves as rich and famous will relate to our heroes in Mystery Men. It’s not a great film by any means. The pace initially is terribly slow and the setup unnecessarily cumbersome. But once first time director Kinka Usher gets the hang of the pace, we’re in for a rollicking good time. Cuthbert’s script has plenty of zingy one liners as well as the odd well placed groaner. Azaria, Stiller, Reubens, and Garofalo are all reliably funny. The real standout in the cast is William H. Macy. His performance as The Shoveler is beautifully underplayed and carries the film through it’s rough spots. Mystery Men is well worth a look."
Lee Gough

"The idea of superheroes who, well, really aren’t all that super (or heroic for that matter) but who’d really want to be is funny in itself. But in Mystery Men, the idea is taken to all sorts of hilarious conclusions. Based on the Dark Horse comics, this film adaptation is both a playful romp through the superhero genre and an often incisive parody of it. You just have to look at the some of the characters. Captain Amazing, for instance, isn’t the pure hearted crime-buster you’d expect; he’s a shallow money and publicity hound supported by big corporations. On the down side, however, director Kinka Usher spends way too much time on showy special effects and some none too involving action sequences. These elements don’t mesh particularly well with the remainder of the film, and the final result is a bit of a mishmash. Also, the film is far too long (inexplicably, the version released here is about 20 minutes longer than the US version). But when it strikes the right note - which is pretty regularly - Mystery Men is a crack-up. Stiller, Azaria, Macy and Garofalo all manage to pull off their roles with aplomb; and both Geoffrey Rush and Greg Kinnear seem to have a lot of fun in their roles. I was less taken with Paul Reubens and Kel Mitchell; but Claire Forlani brings a touch of class to proceedings as the object of Roy’s affections. Mystery Men is something of a hit-and-miss affair; but for me the hits clearly outnumbered the misses."
David Edwards