Mystery Men (1999)
In a world of poorly timed spoofs and parodies, Mystery Men earns the hit and miss brilliance award from yours truly. The reviews on this 'other guys' movie- "We're not your classic heroes, we're the other guys"- are so spread out over the love/hate spectrum that a person could almost set up a viewer psyche analysis chart based on this movie alone.
Mystery Men, chock full of stars and cameos, flopped at the box office during a brief industry spasm when superhero movies suddenly careened into high dollar cheese, case in point Batman & Robin (1997) - IMDB starring George Clooney and Arnold Schwarzenegger. I think to remain true in reviewing Mystery Men in proper context, we must remember this vital part of its placement in movie history. Mystery Men was not only a spoof, but a spoof within a spoof, a layered mockery of not just superhero movies but of the industry itself.
Champion City is a spotter's dream, fun to frame advance and study. Of course it's a spoof on Gotham City, which gets even more fun when you watch the Shoveler drive up to his pink house after a late night saving spree with the boys.
Captain Amazing really does look amazing, but things take a turn for the oh so delightful when the underdogs try to save him later in the movie. This is where you can imagine Batman outgrowing his angst and getting a little fussy with the help.
And who hasn't dreamed of being chosen at a superhero tryout?
Mystery Men is a brilliant tongue in cheek story about the average person's struggle against public expectations in our daily aspirations to rise above the mundane meaningless grind, even if only by a little, while highlighting the industry flaws that veered superhero movies a little off track for awhile. Reviewers who missed the continual fun winks and nods and demanded to know when this movie was supposed to get funny probably weren't cognizant of anything deeper. If anything, that subtlety was probably Mystery Men's undoing for the masses, but for the rest of us it remains a rare gem of sparkling effervescence in an industry that sometimes takes itself a little too seriously. Special wink here to movie reviewers.
Mystery Men - Rotten Tomatoes -The Tomatometer gave Mystery Men a 60% while they reported audience rating at only 51%.
Bad Superhero Parody Movies - Blankman, Mystery Men, John Hancock, My Super Ex -You really can't please some people.
FILM REVIEW: Mystery Men -- Blade Runner meets Naked Gun - The Tech -Lectury. Let's see the reviewer make a better movie.
F This Movie!: Unsung!: Mystery Men -Appreciative, you can tell this guy doesn't hate his job.
Amazon.com: Mystery Men: Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, Greg Kinne -John Q Public seems to like this movie just fine.
Seeing Past Crazy: Why Mystery Men is the Greatest Superhero Movie Ever -Wow, someone went deep.
But what about my own review? In the words of 'Baby Bowler', "Let's do some carnage!" Movie quoting as a sport escalates off the roof with this movie, setting it at a solid second to Spaceballs for me. I've watched Mystery Men more times than I've watched Galaxy Quest, which is my fave ever scifi spoof. This movie is my favorite comfort movie when I'm too sick to get out of bed and my favorite movie when I'm tired of everything else. As fallback movies go, I have gotten more value out of this dime than any other movie. Why is that? What is wrong with me?!
That is exactly what Mystery Men is all about, all us other guys. We're not the CEOs drawing up viewer schedules, or producers tossing cash around. We're the Roys and Jeffs and Eddies, just trying to make the world a little better place. We're not rich like Lance Hunt (the Mystery Men version of Clark Kent), or set up with corporate sponsors like Captain Amazing, but we do have standards and dreams and clear boundaries of where evil should be stopped. We all know people like the characters in this movie, we can all identify somewhere on the Champion City spectrum. If we aren't the wannabes ourselves, then we are the wives and mothers and girlfriends and children of the wannabes. Or maybe we even identify with the bad guys in the gangs recruited by Casanova Frankenstein. If there is a movie reviewer out there who can't identify with a character somewhere in this movie, I want to know what in the world makes them think they are qualified to judge superhero movies in the first place. The whole point to comic books and superhero movies is the wannabes who buy the merchandise. The industry wouldn't exist without wannabes.
If you've not yet seen Mystery Men, don't let bad reviews color your decision and skip this one. Of all the superhero movies ever made, this one is my favorite. Batman wishes he had friends like these.
Mystery Men trailer
by Janika Banks
grandfortuna.xanga.com
@PinkyGuerrero on twitter
