Mystery Men

"They're not your average superheroes."

Look at this cover. Good times will ensue.

   Mystery Men is a fine example of a movie that never even sort of had a chance of being successful (I'm not saying I don't like it. I do a lot). This is a movie, that looks like it was made for tv, based on comics that were largely unheard of. Most people I know who have seen this movie aren't even aware that its based on a comic at all. Despite the cruddy and dated CG effects, and the utterly goofy tone the movie strikes, this has a lot to offer. This is for instance one of the few movies I can think of that features Ben Stiller prominently without me wanting to never watch the movie ever. It is also the second greatest use of Kel Mitchell (the first is obviously Good Burger).  There are lots of great moments to experience. Paul Reubens being humped by a skunk for instance, or watching Greg Kinnear die!


      It is true that these are not your average superheroes. As a matter of fact, they aren't super at all. One guy hits stuff with a shovel. he shovels well. Another throws forks and speaks in a british accent. Paul Reubens farts at people. I think more than anything this movie gives a good retrospective. Mystery Men hit in 1999, one year before the first X-Men movie, and it shows. We are living in a movie climate that is dominated by and large by remakes, and more importantly movies based on cartoons and comic books. They made a movie based on the Watchmen, and it was the most hugely serious, raging comic erection-fest I have ever born witness to. If someone had tried to make a Watchmen movie before X-Men, I'm not saying it would be Mystery Men, but I think that a lot of people would have treated it like it was. By the same token, I think that Mystery Men would have been a much different movie if it were made now.

How could you not love a movie with disco thugs?

      I think we should all be grateful it was made when it was though, because otherwise we might have been deprived of certain gems such as a gang of disco thugs who work for a supervillain, lead by a dude with an afro. Cmon, tell me you aren't afraid of this guy!