Growing up as a rabid comic book fanatic during the late 1960s through the '70s, a small group of us kids wrote our own serials, complete with a unique cast of characters the world had never -- and more than likely would never -- witness. While our crudely drawn comics obviously didn't match up to the artistic or imaginative qualities of the day's popular -- and at the time, inexpensive -- comic books, we had one thing "The Fantastic Four," "The Avengers," "The X-Men" and other team-based series didn't, and that was a huge cast of horribly named superheroes.
That's because my friends and I would sit out on the back stoop with a pencil, pad and unrelenting quest to grab "squatting rights" to any imaginable characters before the others could nab them for their own. As such, we named characters for anything that fell into our line of sight, and thus created "Fence Man," "Tree Man," "Bird Feeder Man" and a varied assortment of other characters whose attributes may have been undefined or uncertain, but nonetheless were thereafter property of their creator.
While I'm not familiar with the Dark Horse comic book "Flaming Carrot" that inspired Universal's "Mystery Men," I can't help but feel that its creator(s) must have spent long summer days playing a similar name game. With characters such as "The Shoveler," "The Bowler," "The Waffler," and "Pencilhead," I felt right at home watching this amusing sendup of top dollar, big screen adaptions of comic books.
Much like the Austin Powers movies are to the James Bond films they spoof, this one plays off the goofier nature of the Batman and Superman movies that were once a staple of the summer season, but have all but dried up now. Thus, "Mystery Men" not only offers a funny and satirical look at such "serious" comic book adaptions, but also fills the void left by such films' absence. It's a "two for one" bargain, and if you enjoy either type of film, you'll probably find this one entertaining.
As written by Neil Cuthbert ("Hocus Pocus") and helmed by director Kinka Usher (who makes his feature film debut after a career of making TV commercials including Taco Bell's talking Chihuahua spots), the film is funny, but never really what most would consider hilarious. However, it is a consistently amusing spoof of the often ridiculous, but seriously presented elements found in comic books and their TV or movie adaptions.
For example, I'm sure I'm not only the only one who ever questioned whether something in the waters of Gotham or Metropolis prevented its citizens from figuring out that Bruce Wayne was Batman or especially that Clark Kent was Superman.
After all, if a pair of glasses is such a great disguise, why don't bank robbers simply don a pair while pulling off a heist? Of course, comics exist in their own unique universe with their own rules, and the glasses that conceal the superhero's alter ego scene is just one of the funny bits that's spoofed in this film (as the superhero wannabes argue whether Captain Amazing is really just the local billionaire in disguise).
While this picture isn't quite as clever as the Austin Powers films as far as parodies go, and doesn't mine all of the possible comedic material from the comic book world and its big screen adaptions, its unique cast of lame superhero characters and the performers who inhabit them all but make up for such deficiencies.
Something akin to "The Full Monty" meets "Batman," the film works because of its charming and winning representation of working class stiffs who aspire to make a difference in their world and/or be something more than their humble existence allows.
Although it's always fun to root for the superhero and his/her amazing powers and abilities, it's often far more enjoyable to do so for characters who aren't in the same league, but often think or act like they are.
While some may complain that the sheer number of superheroes doesn't allow any one character a great deal of individual screen time to stand out amongst the crowd (as compared to Mike Myers' characters in the "Austin Powers" flicks or the leads in the traditional "Batman" and "Superman" films), the ensemble effect actually works quite well. That's especially true since none of the characters are strong enough to carry the film on their own and their interaction with the others is what fuels the plot and its humor.
As such, Ben Stiller ("There's Something About Mary," "Your Friends and Neighbors"), Hank Azaria ("Godzilla," "The Birdcage") and William H. Macy ("Pleasantville," "Fargo") are a blast to watch as the core group of three working class stiffs who think they're superhero material when they're clearly not.
Supporting performances from Janeane Garofalo ("200 Cigarettes," "Clay Pigeons"), Paul Reubens (of Pee-Wee Herman fame from his TV show and movie), Wes Studi ("Deep Rising," "Dances With Wolves") and Kel Mitchell ("Good Burger") are all good if occasionally somewhat limited.
Meanwhile, Greg Kinnear ('You've Got Mail," "As Good As It Gets") and Geoffrey Rush ("Shakespeare in Love," "Elizabeth") are dead-on as the overblown superhero -- with appropriate corporate sponsorship logos on his costume -- and his similarly flamboyant arch foe respectively.
With the appropriate comic book turned movie atmosphere -- courtesy of production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli ("The Thirteenth Floor," "Blade") and cinematographer Stephen H. Burum ("Snake Eyes," "Mission: Impossible") -- and a big budget appearance -- thanks to visual effects supervisor Lori Beck ("Dante's Peak," "Virus") and effects generated by Rhythm and Hues & Pacific Ocean Post -- the film has the look of a serious superhero movie, but completely turns the genre on its head while blowing nonstop raspberries at it.
Although the film runs a bit too long and loses momentum during its somewhat lackluster -- but obligatory -- concluding battle scene, audiences who've grown tired of the overblown spectacle of such films will probably get a kick out of this sendup. Goofy, charming and featuring a fun set of antihero characters, "Mystery Men" may not be the best comedy of the year, but it's certainly one of the most unique and is quite entertaining to watch. We give the film a 6.5 out of 10.