It’s not difficult to find comedy relief in any superhero film out there. Movies like Kick Ass and Iron Man are full of it, and even very serious and dark films like Batman Begins had some laughs in it. Some of us who aren’t very familiar with the comics these movies are based off of believe that superheroes should be serious and professional, because when you’re fighting crime, you can’t be joking around. When you look at it from a more realistic point of view, you start to see that superheroes are just people like us, except they wear costumes. Comic books have more comedy than one not familiar with them would imagine.

Mister Furious attempting to be… erm… Furious.

Mystery Men, released in 1999, was one of the first films to be a full on comedy superhero film. Based on the Flaming Carrot Comics, Mystery Men was a flop at the box office but in later years it developed a cult following. This is a love-it-or-hate-it film for a lot of people and even those involved with the making of the film have said it’s not a good film. It was directed by Kinka Usher whose only other work involved directing commercials. The making of the film had some troubling issues such as arguments between actors and crew, multiple retakes and a dry script. In my opinion it still had a great visual style and art design, and the actors did a lot of improvisation on their part which gives the characters and lines better personality and flow. Mystery Men has a pretty large and well known cast and instead of just running through it in a paragraph, I thought I’d be a bit more detailed this time around.

The Mystery Men

Ben Stiller as Mister Furious: A seemingly powerless vigilante who has anger management issues. He’s easily annoyed but can never seem to harness his aggression properly.

William H. Macy as The Shoveler: The man who holds the team together, sort of a father figure and also an actual father and husband in his daily life. He is amazingly skilled with a shovel and uses it as a weapon.

Hank Azaria as The Blue Raja: An odd crimefighter to say the least, he uses a British accent and a variety of silverware. He flings forks like throwing knives, but refuses to actually use knives because he’s The Blue Raja and not “Stab Man”.

Janeane Garofolo as The Bowler: A woman looking for revenge against the man who killed her father, Carmine The Bowler, murdered by Tony P. Her father’s skull is inside the bowling ball she uses, which possesses his spirit and also the ability to move around on its free will.

Paul Reubens as The Spleen: A superhero who has the powers of flatulence ever since he was cursed by a passing gypsy for blaming her for passing gas when he was the one to blame.

Kel Mitchell as The Invisible Boy: The youngest of the group and the first one to join the original trio. He has the power of invisibility, but only when nobody (including himself) is watching, which leads to much skepticism from the rest of the team.

Wes Studi as The Sphinx: Thought to just be a mythical superhero, he later joins the team as a teacher to them. He has the power to cut guns in half, and is “terribly mysterious”.

Greg Kinnear is Captain Amazing, a walking billboard of a superhero.

Also aiding the Mystery Men is Tom Waits playing Dr. Heller, a supposed genius who invents 100 percent non-lethal weaponry. His inventions are an interesting addition to the movie and Tom Waits plays the role very entertainingly, making you want to see more of him. Also in the film is Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing, the typical superhero of Champion City, with a high tech costume and a secret identity known as Lance Hunt, a cross between Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent. On the evil side is Geoffrey Rush playing Casanova Frankenstein, a recently released supervillain who’s main goal is to defeat Captain Amazing and then destroy Champion City. He’s backed up by the Disco Boys whose leader is Tony P, played by the delightful Eddie Izzard.

The story takes place in the previously mentioned Champion City, which visually, is a cross between Joel Schumacher’s (terribly horrible) take on Gotham City and Blade Runner‘s version of Los Angeles. It follows our trio of wannabe superheroes (Mr. Furious, Blue Raja, and Shoveler) as they try to make it big as crimefighters, but ultimately fail multiple times. After Champion City’s great hero Captain Amazing mysteriously disappears right after Casanova Frankenstein is released, they decide to go searching for him but get defeated by the Disco Boys gang while trying. They soon get the idea of putting together a larger team and this is how we’re introduced to the rest of the squad. The story has lots of comedy and also makes some good points on the lives of superheroes. The Shoveler struggles with a wife who disapproves of his life as a costumed vigilante, and the whole subplot of it makes for a more emotionally driven character. It was the subplots and scenes like that that made me really enjoy this film.

The visuals and art style of the film make it feel like it takes place in the same universe as Batman & Robin did (thankfully it doesn’t) but also lets itself feel like a real life city. It even uses the same type of text that the credits for Batman Forever and Batman & Robin uses.The Mystery Men themselves are all unique and colorful characters, who lend some great laughs but more importantly a feeling that most superhero films lack. As I said before, what I most enjoyed about the film is the feeling that these superheroes are real people, just like us. They’re the underdogs of society and when they succeed, you can’t help but feel happy for them. People may have hated the film, even the actors themselves, but I feel that it’s an important film for anyone who is a fan of superheroes. It gives possibly the most realistic look at what it’s like for a person to try to be recognized for doing good and fighting crime.

If you don’t want to watch it for its comedy, watch it for its message. It’s a good film that has some action, laughs, and family moments that are entertaining for anyone. I only wish that the people who made it and didn’t think it was good can look back at it and at least see that it wasn’t terrible or awful. It might have been an awful movie making experience, but it did something new for its time, something that every superhero and comic book movie is trying to do nowadays; feel real.

© BRWC 2010.