Movie Plot – Mystery Men: A group of incompetent amateur superheroes must try to save the day when a supervillain threatens to destroy a great superhero and the city.

Director: Kinka Usher
Writer: Neil Cuthbert
Cast: Ben Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, William H. Macy

Wannabe heroes

I’m surprised I’ve never heard of the Mystery Men before. Again, I discover a new movie through the Fantasy Movie Watchlist. Before I watched the movie, I had checked the trailer and was immediately sold.

The story revolves around amateur superheroes trying to fight crime. Each of them has their own specialties like throwing forks, fighting with shovels, or just being very angry. Of course, these are ridiculous powers or specialties, although the shoveler would be something that would work in Comic Books.

It’s a movie that makes fun of the superhero genre. However, it’s also based on a comic book named “Flaming Carrot Comics.” And, I’ve never heard about that run, but it’s basically a parody.

When Casanova Frankenstein wants to destroy Captain Amazing and the city, it’s up to the wannabe heroes to stop him. That’s when the group decided to recruit new members to increase their chances of victory.

Great cast assemble

The biggest asset of Mystery Men is its cast with some familiar names like Ben Stiller and William H. Macy.

Ben Stiller’s character Mr. Furious immediately made me think of his role in Zoolander. They’re different roles, but both are pretty silly. However, Zoolander is on another level. Unfortunately, Mystery Men is not as great as that fantastic movie. Now, that doesn’t mean this film is terrible as I pretty much enjoyed the film.

Mr. Furious his powers are getting strong when he’s angry. However, he never seems to have any powers, of course. When he’s punching or kicking, he looks like a child trapped in a grown man’s body. That brings to hilarious scenes that only Ben Stiller knows how to master.

William H. Macy is the shoveler, who seems to be the right-hand of Mr. Furious. He’s the most reliable character of them all, as he still has doubts and reasoning. Well, besides the fact that he can’t figure out who Captain Amazing is. A joke you will understand when you’ve seen the film.

And you have other actors like Paul Reubens, Kell Mitchell, Hank Azaria, etc. Each of them is brilliant and loud on their part. Sometimes it does feel like every actor wants his moment to shine, which doesn’t bother me. I do love watching actors having fun on screen. That makes me feel better!

A B-world of superheroes

As you already know by now, this is to ridicule the superhero world. This is a world where there are superheroes, but it feels like a hobby. Ok, for them personally, it is super serious, but it just doesn’t seem that way. No one takes them seriously, even their own family.

Forget the depth of meaning, leave your logic behind, and have a great time with this maniacally funny, totally absurd, ultra-campy live-action “cartoon”. The sheer folly, bona fide action, and even a few touching moments make this comic fantasy about sweet losers a real winner.

The special effects may not be top-notch, but still pretty good for their time. Even though the company that was in charge of them had little time to realize all of this. However, there was a lot of trimming where they shouldn’t have done it.

Conclusion

I’m glad I’ve discovered Mystery Men as I had a fun time watching it! Highly recommended for superhero fans!

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