Well, this was one of the most poorly reviewed films of the
summer. Enough to keep me away, though I had been previously
anticipating it.
It's a fine rental. Just don't expect too much.
They spoof the superhero formula a bit, and there are some
modest chuckles here, though not as many as you'd expect. I
continue to enjoy Ben Stiller's performances, despite my strong
desire to hate the fucker. Here he plays Mr. Furious, who assures
us that when he becomes angry, he is capable of... well, Hulk-like
feats of strength, I suppose. Unfortunately, Mr. Furious' rage-based
power-surges exist almost exclusively in his own mind. He has no
powers whatsoever. In fact, he can't even deliver a credible
insult or threat to villains, and some of the most amusing parts
of the movie consist of Mr. Furious lamely, but passionately,
trying to insult/threaten villains with Arnold or Batman-like
ferocity.
And then he gets his ass kicked.
Greg Kinnear plays Captain Amazing, a *real* superhero with
lots of sponsors; a Pepsi logo is prominent on his shoulder. But
his sponsors are abandoning him, because there simply aren't any
good villains left for him to fight: he's put them all in jail.
In order to boost his career, he decides to help spring a madman
named Cassanova Frankenstein from the Looney bin. So, in his
guise as billionaire playboy/philanthropist Lance Hunt (no one
knows he's Lance Hunt, because Lance Hunt wears *glasses*, you
see), he testifies on Frankenstein's behalf at a parole/sanity
hearing (yeah, I know, I was sort of confused myself).
And then, inevitably, Frankenstein captures Captain Amazing.
And builds a weapon with which to destroy Champion City.
Leaving our goofball heroes to save the day.
I won't bother describing the heroes. Either you care and
already have read about the sub-stellar lineup, or you don't care
and aren't even reading this. I will note that Hank Azaria and
Bill Macy are core members of the Mystery Men; Jeanine Garofalo
and Pee-Wee Herman Paul Reubens and Wes Studi play other members.
I will say the ending is pretty unsatisfying. The film simply
has too many heroes to work with and simply forgets about them
after they deliver Their One Gag. Pee Wee Herman's superhuman
power is farting; that's his One Big Gag, and he becomes
wallpaper after he farts a couple of tiems. Wes Studi plays The
Sphinx, who actually seems to be a *real* superhero, unlike most
of the rest of the Mystery Men; some fun is had with him in the
second act, but, once he's done with his One Gag Sequence, he's
forgotten about entirely.
Hank Azaria seems nearly forgotten about from the very
beginning.
And Jeanine Garofalo simply plays herself, but looking much
worse, and with much thicker make-up, than usual.
The film suffers from poor pacing, which is odd. You'd think a
movie like this would be rather punchy. Instead, it meanders
quite a bit, and several sequences provide neither laughs nor
advance the "plot" (such as it is) in any appreciable
way. (The worst offender here is the humor-free "Superhero
Try-Out" sequence, which seems like it should be funny, but
manages to be completely inept and obvious and brain-dead.)
In Mystery Men, the Fart-character and the Invisible Boy
character both should have been cut. They both had one gag,
neither of which was funny, and both of which are old, old, old.
"Fartman" is an unfunny Howard Stern bit. A guy who
thinks he can become invisible, but only when people aren't
watching, was done long ago on Soap, and several times since then.
Cutting these superfluous characters out would have gone a
long way to allowing the other characters adequate screen time.
Tom Waits plays a mad scientist/tinkerer who equips the
Mystery Men with various unfunny weapons for the third act. He,
too, should have been cut. Not only was he unfunny, but his mere
presence detracted from the dramatic potential of the third act.
In other words, the third act *should* have been about the
Mystery Men defeating the villain by relying on their own powers.
Instead, they mainly rely on the dopey weapons provided by Tom
Waits. Sort of a deus ex machina, and an unnecessary one, *and*
one that sabotages the Mystery Men's emergence as True Heroes in
the climax.
PS: Why is it that every "hip" genre movie feels the
need to have Tom Waits in it?
...or Paul Reubens, for that matter.
Or the fairly talented magician Ricky Jay. I don't mind Ricky
Jay, but I am nonplussed at Hollywood's burning desire to cast
him in movies, as if there are millions of people just dying to
see Ricky Jay.
Ricky Jay is in Mystery Men, of course. He plays Captain
Amazing's publicist. His big line: "I'm a publicist, not a
magician."
Ummmm.
Memo to Hollywood: No one knows who the fuck Ricky Jay is. No
one knows he's a magician. So a joke about him not being a
magician isn't a joke at all for 99% of the public.
And for the 1% of us who know he's a magician: It's a groaner.
Nevertheless, the film is worth a three or four dollar rental.
Mild chuckles here and there. Two out of five stars.
