Mystery Men Starring Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush 120 Minutes Long, Rated PG-13 for some violence and crude humor.
Mystery Men is a very innovative and clever comedy that benefits from a wonderful cast.
Every summer we always get hit by the big blockbuster films that have special effects and a big name cast. And every summer we always see these films get toasted by critics and never live up to their full potential. At the beginning of the summer, Mystery Men was shaping up to be another blockbuster film with a great cast, and we were waiting to see if it would fail or not. Unfortunately, this clever comedy got lost in the mix of The Blair Witch Project and The Sixth Sense. What got lost was a very clever and innovative comedy, which spoofs superhero films. The graphics in this film are great and add to the spoof. They are very colorful and outrageous, which adds to the comic book feel of the film. It is in a futuristic setting with Captain Amazing, played by Greg Kinnear, as the protector of Champion City. Then, there is the trio of Mr. Furious, The Shoveler and The Blue Raja, played by Ben Stiller, William H. Macy and Hank Azaria, respectively. They are the superhero wannabes. Things go afoul when Captain Amazing starts to lose popularity. He has done such a good job that there are no superheroes left to take out. Therefore, Captain Amazing sets up a plan to set his arch-nemesis, Casanova Frankenstein, played by Geoffrey Rush, free. Chaos ensues as Casanova traps Captain Amazing and it is up to the wannabes to help Captain Amazing. They do some recruiting and eventually add Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell), The Spleen (Paul Reubens), The Bowler (Janeane Garofalo) and The Sphinx (Wes Studi) to their team. As stated before, the cast is nothing short of excellent. Movies can always enlist A-List celebrities, but they need to mesh in order to be successful. In Mystery Men, the cast blends perfectly. Ben Stiller and Janeane Garofalo are the perfect combination and they interact terrifically. Hank Azaria stands out as well as The Blue Raja, whether it be practicing his cutlery or arguing with his mother. William H. Macy gives another strong performance as The Shoveler, and his demeanor and wit will have you chuckling throughout the film. But perhaps the funniest performances come from Paul Reubens, a.k.a. PeeWee Herman, and Wes Studi. Reubens plays the flatulent Spleen and Studi plays the "prophetic" Sphinx. These performances are great and contrast the clever humor of the rest of the cast perfectly. Unlike Ben Stiller's last comedy, There's Something About Mary, Mystery Men is a clever and innovative comedy. It will not have you rolling in the aisles, but you will still be impressed and laughing. Are there any problems with this film? Of course. This could have been a great film, but despite the two-hour length, it could have benefited by being longer. The script is underwritten due to the great cast. They are so funny they need more time. Kinka Usher, the director of this film, tries to get each cast member his or her own amount of screen time, which takes away from the film. In particular, Stiller and Macy could have used more screen time, along with Janeane Garofalo. Despite all of this, the rest of the cast usually delivers with comedy when they are featured on screen. And the other detraction from Mystery Men is the ending. The spoof ends in the last ten minutes. Instead of having a spoof ending, which would have been funnier, they have a typical superhero ending. In this case, each member of the cast gets to shine in their own particular way. This detracts from the rest of the film considering the rest was a spoof. Overall, Mystery Men is a very enjoyable experience. It is a spoof of not only superhero films, but also blockbusters as a whole. This may be one of the few A-list casts that meshes together so well, so you do want to check this film out. Unfortunately, stiff competition from films like The Blair Witch Project, The Sixth Sense and Runaway Bride will keep Mystery Men from achieving the box office results that it truly deserves.
Rating: 3 Stars Out of 4 Stars. The Movie Page- http://jump.to/moviepage Reviews, Previews, News and So Much More!
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