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Mystery Men

Mystery Men

List Price: $9.99
Your Price: $9.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hysterical and very Art Deco!
Review: This film is really special. It's not some low budget comedy movie but it's a mix between Batman, Seinfeld and Austin Powers, an overall bizarre combination!

I really like the part when Stiller jumps on the badguys' car and tries to scratch the label off! LOL!

If you really want to give yourself a break and indulge in some innocent childish fun you should watch this movie.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: We're Not Number One
Review: "All of us are Number Two...or lower." 4 stars is what I would have given this flick when I first saw it years ago. But I've seen so many clever comedies since then, MM suffers from comparison. Even so, there's a lot to like. I still got a five-star feeling from the first 40 minutes -- very amusing. Geoffrey Rush turns in one of the best SuperVillain performances I've ever seen. Definitely worth a rental. Unique ending, by the way.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: MYSTERY
Review: This move is a rare oddity that I enjoyed, but am hesitant to recommend for others.
It is based on a comic book that parodies "second" and "third" string super heroes who have powers that are silly at least, and questionable at best. William H. Macy plays the Shoveler, Hank Azaria plays Blue Raja, and Ben Stiller plays Mr. Furious. Unfortunately, their glory is always taken by the upstart, Captain Amazing--who is played by Greg Kinnear.
However, Captain Amazing is a sellout. He struts around as a walking bilboard of corporate logos and a totally self-absorbed jerk. Needing better publicity, he secretly arranges the release of his most formidable opponents, Frankenstein Cassanova (Geoffery Rush). The tables are then turned when Cassanova kidnaps Captain Amazing and plans to strike retribution to the city.
Now, it is up to the Shoveler, Blue Raja, and Mr. Furious to stop Cassanova and rescue Captain Amazing. If only it was that simple. First, they must find another allie. At first, they merely have The Spleen (Paul Reubens) who has deadly accuracy and aim with farts, then take on the Bowler (Jeanne Geraffalo), and finally befriend the Sphinx who always has wise, but cliched advice (when you doubt your power, you give power to your doubt).
The movie does have its strengths. First, you could not get a better troup of performers. Macy is always first rate, Stiller does have great comedic timing, and Greg Kinnear plays the big dumb guy with a great charisma.
Mysery Men has a dark, yet humorous atmosphere that pokes fun at Batman's Gotham City.
The movie also digs for parody and satire in a subtle, yet meaningful way. The piece is obviously a salute to the super heroes who always played second-fiddle to Superman, Batman, etc. Perhaps it is an homage to working class super heroes--and calling for heroes in the average person.
However, the parodic satire may be a little too subtle. Some people may not get it. This may be especially true for the audience not familiar with the Darkhorse Comic of the same name.
Another problem is the number of characters. Once the Bowler and the Sphinx come along, the movie is weighed down with so much, it may give the audience overkill.
Finally, the movie is probably about 20 to 30 minutes too long.
I am not saying the movie is a waste. I found it surprisingly entertaining. I am just not sure if everyone else will.



Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Fun movie
Review: A wild, crazy adventure in which a number of superheroes combine forces in order to "save the day."

When Champion city is threatened by the evil Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear) rushes in to save the day. When Captain Amazing is captured by Casanova Frankenstein and his disco-dancing henchmen, its up to a group pf superheroes with an eclectic collection of superpowers to save the City and rid itself of evil. Ben Stiller is the Angry Man; Jeanne Garofalo is the bowler, whose fights evil with a bowling ball; Hank Azaria is the Blue Raja, a mama's boy whose weapons of choice are forks and spoons; and William H. Macy is the Shoveler. Also included in the group are the cliché-talking Sphinx; the Invisible Man; and a superhero whose power is flatulence.

The plot itself is clichéd, as are most of the things the characters say; but, taken at face value, it's a fun, comic-book like movie.


Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If you don't like it, you are trying too hard!
Review: Probably one of the best silly movies ever! Not trying-too-hard-lame like so many Carry or Sandler potty-joke garbage movies. Here is a group of superheros (sort-of) who take themselves very seriously, and make you laugh at every turn. You have to see this movies several times to appreciate the detail and writing, not to mention the high-quality acting on everyone's part. There are so many great lines..."I shovel well", "I am a ticking time-bomb of fury..." etc "Why would anyone want to rent a chicken?". They go by so fast you have to buy the DVD and watch it at least a half-dozen times. The super-hero tryouts alone are worth the movie. WAFFLEMAAAAAAN! Some people don't like Mystery Men, but there are some people that think the Superman movies were worth watching, so not everyone has the same tastes. You need an appreciation of the unusual to like it! Why WOULD anyone want to rent a chicken?

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hilarious!
Review: This is the most off-beat American comedy I think I've ever seen. For those looking for cheap, predictable laughs a la Adam Sandler, you won't find them here.

It is set in a neo-gothic world similar to Batman's Gotham City and is a humourous take on the brooding action hero comic-cum-movie genre. The story centers around a team of misfit super heros with dubious powers, most notably The Spleen, played by Paul Reubens, whose special power is flatulence. I wince telling you this, because the movie isn't focused on toilet humour. The humour is fairly diverse and mixes slapstick with totally bizarre gags. It is more reminiscent of Monty Python than, say, Saturday Night Live.

The acting is quite good and Ben Stiller plays his best role since There's Something About Mary, including all his other movies up to this point - Along Came Polly being his latest.

The sets are great. There are a lot of extra details in the sets that you don't see in the first viewing, such as the old-folks' home bar including a range of medications. The camera doesn't settle on these sight gags to shove them down your throat in order to get laughs; they are just part of the scenery.

Apparently much of the dialogue was ad-libbed by the actors during the process of writing the movie. This results in a very natural script. It is fresh, and free from your typical action-comedy clichés.

I am normally extremely picky when it comes to movies, especially comedies, but I am a huge fan of this movie. Highly recommended.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Short quiz to see if you would like Mystery Men:
Review: 1) Did you enjoy Zoolander?
2) Are body function jokes funny to you?
3) Have you ever seen something so lame it made you erupt with laughter?

If you answer yes to any of the above, and certainly if you answer yes to all of them you should give this movie a try. It aims low, and hits the target beautifully. I find that with this kind of movie, the jokes are meant to be dumb. Some of them are dumb, but funny in spite of it. Others are just so dumb that you've got to laugh because of the commentary it makes on other comedies who take themselves too seriously.

But, Mystery Men is a fun ride with lovable characters that any dumb movie aficionado will love.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Corny Fun
Review: The more I watch this movie, the more entertained I am. It is a corny but very entertaining story of a group of wanna be super heros and their story. It is funny with interesting characters who do sometimes rediculous, funny things. I recommend it highly for some good laughs, over and over...

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: GenX Loser Rejects
Review: What is with all these retro disco throwback movies lately?

From the Previews, this looked like it was going to be a cross between Spice World and Men in Black. Sadly, we didn't end up with anything that good.

One of the most horrid and abysmally poor movies I've seen in a decade of not-very-good movies. Self-indulgent looser wannabe superheroes with bad Generation X garageband styles go out to stomp uninteresting, uninspiring bad guys. Too badly written to be taken seriously, and too stupid to be a spoof. I was actually wishing they'd cast William Shatner into either Captain Amazing or Mr. Furious. Hard to believe, but that might have added a level of class and sophistication to this gratuitous waste of film.

To be honest, I don't know which is worse: That some adult actually thought this stuff up, or that some other adults actually thought it was good enough to make the movie. Worse than either is the fact that they were right, and a bunch of us, myself included, got suckered into parting with good money to see this depravity. At least I had the sense to wait until it hit the cheap theaters. Not even the Superhero Audition scene was worth much, certainly not the $1.25 I paid to see this turkey. They'd have been far better off making a movie based on The Tick. At least that knows not to take itself too seriously.

I must confess that one thing surprised me. Given the juvenile intelect and humor displayed during the rest of the movie, they pased up on a potential joke. One of the weapons shrinks clothing to constrict the target and render them helpless. They should have used it on the gangbangers to shrink their baggy clothes so that they actually fit. Probably too high-brow a gag.

Bad acting, bad directing, painful costuming, and incredibly poor camera work.
One of the characters is called the Shoveler. I'd say what this movie is good at shoveling, but I think I'll let you figure it out for yourselves. This isn't just a movie that should never have been made, it should never have been conceived. And if it had, it should have been aborted, if only retroactively.

South Park at least has the decency to admit that it should probablly not be viewed by anyone.


Rating: 3 stars
Summary: An Interesting Cast Makes the Film Better
Review: With all honesty we know this film would have been like gum underneath a shoe if it hadn't been for the cast. The story is nonexistent, the dialogue a joke and the plot...well you get the picture. The best part of Mystery Men is how the cast is so colorful they come together to rescue what would otherwise be a disastrous movie. This is not a film you can easily recommend to anyone. It's not a film that's so black and white you can classify it so it's truly up to people's tastes whether they should see it or not. I bought it in 1999 and have watched it about ten times since then. It's a good film to watch if you're bored but I can't say it's so wonderful you should run out and buy it. Just wait to see it on television. You'll enjoy it better when you save your money. It's entertaining even if the story centers around a bunch of funny, yet weird morons.


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