Mystery Men

Released 1999
Stars Ben Stiller, William H. Macy, Hank Azaria, Geoffrey Rush, Janeane Garofalo, Greg Kinnear, Paul Reubens, Wes Studi, Kel Mitchell, Lena Olin, Claire Forlani
Directed by Kinka Usher

Mystery Men introduces us to a bunch of blue-collar superheroes. In Champion City, a stylized metropolis that looks like a cross between the futuristic world of The Fifth Element and Batman's Gotham City, Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear) is every little boy's idol. Children revere this Superman clone, and why not? He has singlehandedly cleaned up the city. All the bad guys are behind bars or dead. But there's more to being a superhero than simply restoring law and order. During his period of fighting evil-doers, Captain Amazing has hired a publicist and earned sponsors (Ray-O-Vac, Konica, Reebok). Now times are getting a little difficult. Without any supervillains to defeat, Captain Amazing's shining star is dimming. Losing his Pepsi endorsement is the last straw. He decides to help engineer the parole of his arch nemesis, Cassanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), so that he'll have someone to save the city from. Unfortunately, Cassanova proves to be smarter than Captain Amazing, and soon Champion City's #1 champion is nowhere to be found.

Enter the Mystery Men - three ordinary guys who want to be superheroes. Their powers are less than astonishing. Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller) supposedly shows amazing strength when he gets mad, but the depth of his abilities is exaggerated. The Blue Raja (Hank Azaria) is an "effete British superhero" who can do some impressive things with forks and spoons. And the Shoveler (William H. Macy) calls a spade a spade, then clanks people over the head with it. Unfortunately, these three aren't too successful in battle, and, when it comes to rescuing Captain Amazing, they're in over their heads - and they know it. So they do a little recruiting. Soon, their group has expanded to include the Bowler (Janeane Garafolo), a woman who keeps her father's skull in her bowling ball; the Spleen (Paul Reubens), a man with the ability to render opponents unconscious by farting on them; Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell), who "can only become invisible when nobody is watching"; and the Sphinx (Wes Studi), whose seemingly-wise pronouncements are often cliched and meaningless ("When you care what is outside, what is inside cares for you"). Armed with some really cool weapons, they decide to storm Cassanova's castle and save Captain Amazing and the city. Mystery Men offers a broad base of humor with something for everyone. There are puns, sight gags, fairly sophisticated satire, lowbrow humor, and fart jokes.

Summary by James Berardinelli