“Mystery Men”
"Mystery Men" (PG-13)Starring Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Geoffrey Rush, Janeane Garofalo, Hank Azaria, Paul Ruebens, Wes Studi & Greg Kinnear.
In Champion City there are three types of people: Super heroes & villains, regular folks & those in between, the super hero wannabe's, the Mystery Men of the film's title. Fighting crime isn't easy for this bunch. When you have really lame special powers, you don't get the same recognition or respect that the professionals enjoy.
Ben Stiller plays Mr. Furious, whose special power is the ability to get really angry. William H. Macy is The Shoveler because he's very good at shoveling and uses a very nice chrome shovel. Hank Azaria of "Mad About You" is The Blue Raja, a man gifted with skills to throw cutlery with less than deadly accuracy. He mainly throws forks; for some unknown reason he doesn't throw knives. Janeane Garafalo is The Bowler. Her gift comes from her father, who once was a gifted bowler. His skull is now in Garafalo's clear bowling ball. Wes Studi is The Sphynx, whose powers are deemed mystical by the others but seems to specialize in clichéd connundrums. He is the guru who teaches the misfits to be a team. Geoffrey Rush — yes he of "Shine" fame — plays Cassanova Frankenstein, who is fresh out of an insane asylum.
DM: You can tell from the description that the powers of these super heroes aren't exactly Batman or Superman quality. Heck, they're not really even up to the Wonder Twins, but they prove very capable at delivering loads of laughs. The humor comes at breakneck speed throughout the movie, with especially great performances from Stiller, Studi and Macy. I can honestly say that I haven't laughed at a movie this hard since I saw "A Fish Called Wanda."
There are so many comical moments that it would be hard to nail down exactly which part was the funniest. From Mr. Furious's frantic scramble to peel the hood ornament off the front of Frankenstein's car to all of the outstanding and witty dialogue peppered throughout the movie. You have to wonder how much these fine comedians ad-libbed just to get even more laughs.
Score: DM 83, DT 77