Comic Book Movies 101: Mystery Men

• 23rd Apr 2011

This is the first film in the mainstream to really dismantle the superhero film and all of the tropes that come with it. Forget Kick Ass; Mystery Men was here first. So in a fictionalised world we have regular Joe slackers played by the likes of Ben Stiller, William H Macy and Hank Azaria trying their best to contribute to society by wearing costumes and picking fights with criminals. Well, at least they make an impression on a wonderfully sleazy Tom Waits.

The real superhero work though is being done by Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing. But even he’s getting a bit bored and has to have his arch nemesis released from the asylum just so he has someone to fight. Sadly in doing so he ends up getting himself caught – leaving our rag-tag bunch to step up and do the work needed.

But first they need to get a gang together! And that’s where the fun really begins and the nit-picking about powers (or lack of) starts to play in. Seriously! An invisible guy who can only turn invisible when no-one is looking at him. A man who’s blessed with the power of super-flatulence. A hero with a temper problem that leads to… well not very much happening at all. It’s all great fun – and yet this film seems to have been sorely overlooked when it came out.

Gregg Kinnear steals the show as the smug hero who actually has real powers, and looks ridiculous with all the sponsorship emblems he wears on his costume (he looks more like a race car driver in his outfit). Anyone who’s seen Megamind recently might find a few too many similarities with the smug hero (not to mention his fate) in that film when compared here.

The problem perhaps with Mystery Men is that although it’s constantly entertaining, it’s never laugh-out-loud hilarious. I can’t recall any specific moments that made me bellow at the screen with joy. Sure Kinnear is funny; Stiller perhaps could have made his part funnier by going OTT in his rage outbursts. I’m not one for fart gags either, so the Spleen doing his thing didn’t do me any favours. Janeane Garofalo talking to her dad’s skull is more black humour than anything. It’s a film that provided more smiles than it did great gags.

The budget is fairly impressive and – despite the effects being a bit dated – the film does have money behind it that went into sets and effects as well as the huge cast (even Michael Bay turns up as a high school jock). This film is for comic book movie fans that know their comic book movies back to front and will enjoy seeing them taken down a notch or two. But, also like Kickass, the film cops out in the final act and reverts to a strait-laced comic book movie action ending. It’s still fun, just without the acid-laced cynicism 

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This is the first film in the mainstream to really dismantle the superhero film and all of the tropes that come with it. Forget Kick Ass; Mystery Men was here first. So in a fictionalised world we have regular Joe slackers played by the likes of Ben Stiller, William H Macy and Hank Azaria trying their best to contribute to society by wearing costumes and picking fights with criminals. Well, at least they make an impression on a wonderfully sleazy Tom Waits.

The real superhero work though is being done by Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing. But even he’s getting a bit bored and has to have his arch nemesis released from the asylum just so he has someone to fight. Sadly in doing so he ends up getting himself caught – leaving our rag-tag bunch to step up and do the work needed.

But first they need to get a gang together! And that’s where the fun really begins and the nit-picking about powers (or lack of) starts to play in. Seriously! An invisible guy who can only turn invisible when no-one is looking at him. A man who’s blessed with the power of super-flatulence. A hero with a temper problem that leads to… well not very much happening at all. It’s all great fun – and yet this film seems to have been sorely overlooked when it came out.

Gregg Kinnear steals the show as the smug hero who actually has real powers, and looks ridiculous with all the sponsorship emblems he wears on his costume (he looks more like a race car driver in his outfit). Anyone who’s seen Megamind recently might find a few too many similarities with the smug hero (not to mention his fate) in that film when compared here.

The problem perhaps with Mystery Men is that although it’s constantly entertaining, it’s never laugh-out-loud hilarious. I can’t recall any specific moments that made me bellow at the screen with joy. Sure Kinnear is funny; Stiller perhaps could have made his part funnier by going OTT in his rage outbursts. I’m not one for fart gags either, so the Spleen doing his thing didn’t do me any favours. Janeane Garofalo talking to her dad’s skull is more black humour than anything. It’s a film that provided more smiles than it did great gags.

The budget is fairly impressive and – despite the effects being a bit dated – the film does have money behind it that went into sets and effects as well as the huge cast (even Michael Bay turns up as a high school jock). This film is for comic book movie fans that know their comic book movies back to front and will enjoy seeing them taken down a notch or two. But, also like Kickass, the film cops out in the final act and reverts to a strait-laced comic book movie action ending. It’s still fun, just without the acid-laced cynicism.

Steven Hurst