Mystery Men (1999)

That was an excellent one.

This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

The Mystery Men is my favorited and beloved superhero movie. I saw this movie somewhere in 2001 or 2003 and I've watched it many times over the years and it still remains a favorite of mine, due mostly to fond childhood memories. It's not a perfect movie, but it definitely deserves another look and perhaps a cult following to this movie.I always have my 90s nostalgia movies and look back at them just like The Fifth Element, Ghost In The Shell and The City Of Lost Children as good movies to watch over and over again just like The Mystery Men.STORY: In the metropolis of Champion City, the would-be superhero team of Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller), the Shoveler (William H. Macy), and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria) attempt to make a name for themselves, but their suspect skills make them ineffective, and they find themselves upstaged by the city's most successful superhero, Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear). However, Amazing is finding that his effectiveness at fighting crime has practically made his job obsolete, and without any worthy adversaries remaining (some of them are either dead, in exile, or still in jail), his corporate sponsors are beginning to pull their funding. To create a need for himself, Amazing uses his alter ego, billionaire lawyer Lance Hunt, to argue for the release of insane supervillain Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush). The plan backfires; once reunited with Tony P (Eddie Izzard) and his Disco Boys, Casanova Frankenstein blows up the insane asylum, captures Amazing, and prepares to unleash a doomsday device: the "Psycho-frakulator", which lethally bends reality. Mr. Furious, while spying on Casanova Frankenstein's mansion, discovers Amazing's capture and informs the others.After an unsuccessful rescue attempt, the three realize they need more allies, and through word-of-mouth and try-outs, they recruit Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell), the Spleen (Paul Reubens), and the Bowler (Janeane Garofalo). The newly formed team "assaults" Casanova, which only succeeds in annoying him and damaging his car. While drunk from celebrating their victory, the team is nearly killed in retaliation by Tony P and the Disco Boys, but they are saved at the last minute by the Sphinx (Wes Studi). The Sphinx trains them, but his methods annoy Mr. Furious – he has them complete rote team-building exercises and speaks exclusively in Chiasmus. They also seek out mad scientist Doc Heller (Tom Waits), who specializes in non-lethal weaponry, to equip them for their battle.The group breaks into Casanova's mansion during a gathering of several of the city's gangs; but, while attempting to free Captain Amazing, they inadvertently set off the Psycho-frakulator, killing him instead. Without Amazing, the team despairs of saving the city, but the Shoveler delivers a pep-talk that succeeds in uniting and inspiring them.With new-found purpose, they assault the mansion and, by making effective use of their negligible superpowers and Heller's weapons, manage to subdue most of Casanova Frankenstein's henchmen. Unfortunately, as the heroes approach Casanova Frankenstein, he reveals that he is holding Mr. Furious' girlfriend Monica (Claire Forlani) hostage, and proceeds to activate the Psycho-frakulator, which begins to wreak havoc upon the city. While the team tries to stop the device, Mr. Furious takes on Casanova Frankenstein. After initially taking a beating, Mr. Furious unleashes his inner rage and manages to fight effectively for the first time. He defeats Casanova Frankenstein, who is thrown into the core of the Psycho-frakulator and killed by its reality-bending powers. The rest of the team helps The Bowler use her bowling ball to destroy the device and escape the mansion as it implodes.The team is interviewed by reporters, begging to know their team name. As they argue among themselves, one reporter states "Well, whatever you may call them, Champion City will forever owe a debt of gratitude to these 'Mystery Men'," but the others are too busy arguing to hear it.The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 60% based on 101 reviews; the consensus states: "Absurd characters and quirky gags are brought to life by a talented cast, providing this superhero spoof with lots of laughs." On Metacritic, the film has a 65/100 rating based on 24 critics, signifying "generally favorable reviews".Jonathan Romney said that it was "a desperately hit-and-miss affair". Michael Dequina of The Movie Report said that it "fails to come up with worthy gags and one-liners for the able cast." Steve Murray of Cox News Service gave it a negative review, saying "Mystery Men is like its hapless heroes. It's a wannabe that has the best intentions – including a pronounced anti-gun stance – but none of the knack it takes to save the day, or itself."British television channel Film4 gave it a positive review, saying it was "Hugely entertaining – especially for those with a thing for superheroes."I loved this movie at always in my 90s nostalgia side of me.I will give it AN BETTER MOVIE BESIDE THAT HORRIBLE SUICIDE SQUAD MOVIE out of 10.

I just finished watching mystery men, and must say i liked it very much. Don't expect 'kick-ass' action but its more light and funny. I know the movie is out since 1999 but i never saw it when it came out, strange really but found the movie here on IMDb and read some good reviews about it so it made me curious. i know this is not really a review but just have to write 10 lines to get this online. so don't expect any blood or a lot of special effects just a refreshing new kind of simple but still funny 'super'hero movie it just different then the other stuff we are use too! the acting was real good but don't expect some super twist or stuff like that. So go and rent the movie or see it online you may like it if your in to something new.7/10 good

The year is 1999 and the place is Champion City and all of the super villains are either dead or behind bars, so in a city over run with super heroes, there is no work. So the greatest super hero, Captain Amazing, decides to manipulate a few things to keep his sponsorship, and releases Cassanova Frankinstein. Unfortunately Cassanova gets the better of him and kills him so it is up to a hopeless trio: the Blue Rajah, The Shovel, and Mr Furious, to get him back. Unfortunately they are hopeless so they recruit some more, landing up with the Invisible Man, the Spleen, and the Bowler's daughter. Then the Sphinx, a mysterious figure, turns up to train them.This movie, which is actually based on a comic series of the same name, is a farce of super hero movies. The mad inventor emphasises that all of his inventions are non-lethal, the Blue Rajah throws spoons and forks, but not knives, the Shovel is married with kids and his wife tries to tell him that maybe the superhero business is not cut out for him, and nobody finds Mr Furious threatening, at all.It is a cute little movie and deals with these mystery men's right of ascension. Now that Captain Amazing is dead, a new lot of super heroes are needed, and unfortunately all they have are these guys. The Blue Rajah lives with his mother and Mr Furious is trying too hard to be something that he is not. In the end, when Mr Furious comes to terms with who he really is, a guy named Roy, then he becomes Mr Furious.This is a pretty cool movie, and I do recommend it, but it is not one that stands out so much that one would want to see it again and again. I guess there is a little criticism here, but in the end any comment that it would want to make, simply falls down into a pool of laughs and weirdness. It may be weird, but it is not the weird that makes me interested in the movie.

I am spinal injuredI saw this when I was younger and thought it was incredibly stupid. I thought that over time I had become more accepting of slapstick films and gave it another try..... No, I was right the first time. Horrible. It has a couple of clever lines but immediately in the first scene of the film you start to wonder if the writer(s) were still in middle school. The jokes are often random and go off on a tangent. I suffered through it hoping it might end with at least one good laugh. I felt so bad for leaving this on while my wife was in the room I immediately cooked her dinner and dessert and admitted that it was truly one of the most painful films i've ever seen (up there with catwoman i'd say). On the upside if you like movies like "dude, wheres my car" and "spy kids", then you'll love this heaping pile of dung.