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Picture
A team of reject wannabe superheroes become Champion City's only hope when an evil genius kidnaps Captain Amazing and threatens the city.
ACTION/COMEDY

Mystery Men (1999)

Directed by Kinka Usher

Written by Neil Cuthbert

Starring Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, Paul Reubens, Kel Mitchell, Wes Studi, Geoffrey Rush, Greg Kinnear, Tom Waits, Eddie Izzard, Claire Forlani

Based on characters from Flaming Carrot Comics

Connor Eyzaguirre
July 14, 2020
10/10
Mystery Men is one of the most underrated secret masterpieces of all time, and a favorite of mine since I was a kid. If this film had come out just two years later, it could've capitalized on the success of X-Men, which revitalized interest in superhero movies, and it might've been a hit. Alas, it was a total bomb in 1999 despite a monster cast of character actors and a unique, intriguing premise. But don't let the numbers fool you. This action comedy was ahead of its time and holds up even better today. It's the very definition of a cult classic.

Our initial heroes are Mr. Furious (Stiller), whose power is his boundless rage, the Shoveler (Macy), who shovels very well, and the Blue Raja (Azaria), who flings forks with a British accent. They want to be heroes, but they have no powers or publicity. Champion City's true hero is a sponsored douche called Captain Amazing (Kinnear), who arranges to have his arch-nemesis Casanova Frankenstein (Rush) released from the nuthouse so he can recapture the glory days. Casanova kidnaps Amazing, leaving our hapless trio as the city's only hope. To fight Casanova, they recruit Spleen (Reubens), who has magic fart powers, Invisible Boy (Mitchell), who can only turn invisible when nobody is watching him, the Bowler (Garofalo), who is aided by the ghost of her mobster father who resides in her bowling ball, and the Sphinx (Studi), who is terribly mysterious. Together, this team of misfits trains and learns to trust each other so they can take on the city's biggest threat. It's such a great watch.

Mystery Men simply arrived too early, and was unable to garner much success because of it. It's got an amazing cast, a hilarious premise, and a solid, awesome story. It doesn't even feel that dated, which is pretty amazing. It's been one of my favorite movies for as long as I can remember, and I try to recommend it to my friends whenever I can. There's just so much to like about it, and any fan of superhero films will adore it.

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