Mystery Men
USA 1999
Reviewed by Jonathan Romney
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Champion City, USA. Irascible Roy and his friends Eddie and Jeffrey are aspiring superheroes, fighting crime under the guises of The Furious, The Shoveller and the fork-throwing Blue Raja. But their efforts are eclipsed by the sponsorship-conscious Captain Amazing.
Worried about his declining profile, Captain Amazing engineers the release from prison of mad criminal Casanova Frankenstein, only to be captured by him. The trio recruit equally inept sidekicks - the flatulent Spleen, the all-too visible Invisible Boy - and finally become a team with the addition of The Bowler, who carries her father's skull in a bowling ball. They also find a mentor, the enigma-spouting Sphinx. In a rescue attempt, Captain Amazing is accidentally killed by the team; but they eventually defeat Frankenstein with the aid of eccentric weapons expert Doctor Heller.
Review
Despite looking from the artwork and the casting to be a more appealing proposition than the usual run of comic-book spin-offs, Mystery Men proves a grotesquely wasted opportunity. No expense has been spared to provide a cast that evokes off-beat modishness, but what went wrong can pretty much be guessed from the CV of Kinka Usher, a commercials director making his feature debut here after doing the business for Miller Lite, Nissan and Nike.
Mystery Men crassly parodies superhero comics without acknowledging that the smartest comic strips have been tilting at their own absurd conventions at least since the renaissance of Marvel in the 60s (the Blue Raja's relationship with his mother looks like a poor shadow of Spiderman's early domestic tensions with his aged Aunt May). Like most recent superhero films, Mystery Men takes Tim Burton's Batman as a starting point, particularly in its dystopian urban setting Champion City. But the clumsy, often condescending parody is sanctioned by a comic-book company, Dark Horse Comics, one which ought to have known better given that it is already responsible for such overblown effects-laden movies as The Mask and Barb Wire.
Mystery Men, which spun off from the austerely bizarre Flaming Carrot comics, has a one-joke premise: its costumed heroes barely have basic competence, let alone superpowers, and believe that the only qualifications needed are the right rhetoric and a snappy costume.
In fact, the film finally endorses that view: the team only come into their own once they replace their makeshift look with diligently hand-sewn costumes in glittery fabrics (costume upgrades seem to have become a feature of the genre when Joel Schumacher inherited the Batman franchise, although there are no rubber nipples here).
A desperately hit-and-miss affair, Mystery Men depends largely on the personalities of its top-heavy cast. There are a few star turns: William H. Macy's home-loving regular Joe, Paul Reubens as a grotesque zit-faced pétomane, and Hank Azaria as an American momma's boy apeing the tones of a 30s English fop. And Wes Studi is largely responsible for buoying up the film's final third, intoning portentous one-liners: "You must be like the wolf pack, not like the six-pack."
But there's a frightening waste of talent too, making you wonder just how much of whose screen time was cut: Tom Waits, Eddie Izzard (who should have known to avoid henchman roles after The Avengers), as well as a briefly glimpsed Lena Olin. The greatest shame is that Janeane Garofalo, memorably abrasive on The Larry Sanders Show, still hasn't found a big-screen venture that knows what to do with her.
A lazy script works on the one-note premise that superheroes are just deluded schmucks with too much nervous energy. But the writers finally play it safe by calling on unearthly powers to wrap things up. Usher, seduced by what looks like a gargantuan design budget, directs like someone who either doesn't love comics at all or loves the wrong sort too much. Mystery Men is a horrible mess with little to recommend it, except for nice touches in DP Stephen H. Burum's and designer Kirk M. Petruccelli's colour palette. Unfortunately, a few strident reds and purples don't make a movie.
Credits
- Director
- Kinka Usher
- Producers
- Lawrence Gordon
- Mike Richardson
- Lloyd Levin
- Screenplay
- Neil Cuthbert
- Based on the Dark Horse comic book series created by Bob Burden
- Director of Photography
- Stephen H. Burum
- Editor
- Conrad Buff
- Production Designer
- Kirk M. Petruccelli
- Music
- Stephen Warbeck
- ©Universal City Studios, Inc.
- Production Companies
- Universal Pictures and Lawrence Gordon present a Golar/Lloyd Levin/Dark Horse production
- Executive Producer
- Robert Engelman
- Co-producer
- Steven Gilder
- Production Co-ordinator
- Justine M. Hebron
- Unit Production Manager
- David Householter
- Location Manager
- Marc Strachan
- Co-location Manager
- Craig Van Gundy
- Post-production
- Supervisor:
- Angel Pine
- Co-ordinator:
- Terra Abroms
- Assistant Directors
- Jeffrey Wetzel
- Jeff Okabayashi
- Bradley Morris
- Script Supervisor
- Karen Golden
- Casting
- Mindy Marin
- ADR Voice:
- Barbara Harris
- Camera Operator
- Dustin Blauvelt
- Steadicam Operator
- Mark Van Loon
- Visual Effects Supervisor
- Lori J. Nelson
- Visual Effects Editor
- Carole A. Kenneally
- Visual Effects Production Supervisor
- David B. Moulder
- Visual Effects Technical Co-ordinator
- Allen Maris
- Visual Effects
- POP Film & Animation
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- David Sosalla
- Executive Producer:
- Joe Gareri
- Digital Effects Producer:
- Melissa Brockman
- CG/Matte Painting Producer:
- Cheryl Bainum
- Visual Effects Designer:
- Deak Ferrand
- Senior Matte Painters:
- Deak Ferrand
- Rocco Gioffre
- Senior CG Animators:
- Hans Payer
- Martin Lauzon
- Robin Tremblay
- CG Animators:
- Sandra Germain
- Marc-Andre Samson
- Robert Hubbard
- Casey Dame
- Pierre Catford
- Olivier Goulet
- Linda Kurgpold
- Senior Inferno Compositors:
- Bob Wiatr
- Jacques Lévesque
- Senior Cineon Compositors:
- Ken Littleton
- Lawrence Littleton
- Digital Compositors:
- Michael Degtjarewsky
- Brandon McNaughton
- Kiki Chansamone
- Brian Hanable
- Kevin Bouchez
- Dave Nethercut
- Roto/Paint Artists:
- Kelly Bumbarger
- Ken Lam
- Tom Lamb
- 3D Tracking:
- Kelly Bechtle-Woods
- Digital Co-ordinator:
- Thomas Clary
- CG Co-ordinator:
- Siouxsie Stewart
- Digital Imaging Manager:
- Pat Repola
- Digital Imaging Co-ordinators:
- Jean Usi
- Beth Ostermann
- Visual Effects Editor:
- Tommy Dorsett
- Scanning/Recording Technicians:
- Mark Buschbacher
- Brian Cuscino
- Mary Nelson
- Ed Thompson
- I/O Technicians:
- Marco Vidaurre
- Adrian Colbert
- Visual Effects
- Rhythm & Hues Studios
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- Tom Leeser
- Original Effects Concept Design:
- Nick Pugh
- Visual Effects Producers:
- Michele C. Vallillo
- Jil Bergin
- Digital Producer:
- Diane Fazio
- CG Supervisor:
- Christopher Sjoholm
- CG Sequence Supervisors:
- Todd Shifflett
- Hideki Okano
- Robert Lurye
- Michael Conelly
- Erik de Boer
- Raymond Chen
- Mary Lynn Machado
- Digital Artists:
- Pascal Chappuis
- Lisa Clarity
- Antoine Durr
- Daev Finn
- Caleb Howard
- Nicolas Imhof
- Vandana Konda
- Liz Kupinski
- Karl Maples
- Bob Mercier
- Ha Ngan Roda
- Thuc Nguyen
- Alberto Noti
- Amy Ryan
- Juan-Luis Sanchez
- Mike Sandrik
- Andy Sheng
- Juck Somsaman
- Scott Townsend
- Sandra Voelker
- Carlo Volpati
- Julius Yang
- Animators:
- Keith Roberts
- Roberto Smith
- Animation Setup:
- Quintin King
- Hans Rijpkema
- Texture Painter:
- Ruth Caspary
- Software Developers:
- Sherie Bradfute
- Jubin Dave
- Keith Goldfarb
- Linda Martino
- Ivan Neulander
- Marty Ryan
- Modellers:
- Keith Hunter
- Tom Capizzi
- Yeen-Shi Chen
- Karl Herbst
- Ian Hulbert
- Tex Kadonaga
- Nancy Klimley
- Maxx Okazaki
- Bradley Sick
- Chien-Hsiung Wang
- Tracking:
- Amy Christensen
- Viviana Palacios
- Lead Digital Compositor:
- Mark Felt
- Digital Compositor:
- John Heller
- Paint/Roto Artists:
- Chris Bergman
- Jeffrey Castel De Oro
- Anita Cukurs
- Marcus Rubone
- Serkan Zelzele
- Visual Effects Editors:
- Allen Cappuccilli
- Joshua Margolies
- Engineer:
- Will McCown
- Scanning/Recording Supervisor:
- Megan Bryant
- Scanning/Recording Operators:
- Erik Akutagawa
- Jeffrey Cilley
- Production Co-ordinator:
- Joanne Shinohara
- Visual Effects
- Vision Art
- Digital Effects Supervisor:
- Marc Kolbe
- Digital Effects Producer:
- Richard J. Cook
- Animation Supervisors:
- Daniel Kramer
- Carl Hooper
- Animators:
- Jim McLean
- Daniel Naulin
- Compositing Supervisor:
- Dorene Haver
- Compositor:
- Alette Vernon
- Digital Film Supervisor:
- Celine Jackson
- Digital Film Operator:
- Paul Simon
- Miniatures/Miniature Photography Support
- Grant McCune Design Inc.
- Model Supervisor:
- Montgomery Shook
- Model Art:
- Clark Schaffer
- Model Makers:
- Tom Rush
- Edward Lawton
- Ray Moore
- Jack Edjourian
- Marcello Petrocelli
- Dwight Shook
- Jameson Levin
- Alex Palumbo
- Mark Sheaffer
- Richard King Slifka
- Rick Won
- Jason Kaufman
- Special Effects
- Co-ordinator:
- Terry Frazee
- Assistant Co-ordinator:
- Donald Frazee
- Foremen:
- Geno Crum
- Ronald Myers
- O'Connor FX
- Supervisors:
- Ian O'Connor
- Sherry O'Connor
- Crew:
- M. Kam Cooney
- Doug Shemer
- Rich Jacobs
- Model Maker Supervisor
- David Cohen
- Miniature Effects Unit Director of Photography
- Alex Funke
- Motion Control Supervisor
- Christopher Dawson
- Art Director
- Barry Chusid
- Set Designers
- James Bayliss
- Nathan Crowley
- Mary Finn
- Chad Frey
- Liz Lapp
- Richard Mays
- Marco Rubeo
- Domenic Silvestri
- Paul Sonski
- Sally Thornton
- Set Decorator
- Victor Zolfo
- Textile Artist
- Phyllis Thurber-Moffitt
- Illustrators
- James Doh
- James Clyne
- Storyboard Artist
- Marc Messenger
- Sculptor Foreman
- Jamie Miller
- Costume Designer
- Marilyn Vance
- Costume Supervisor
- Nick Scarano
- Wardrobe Illustrator
- Lois Dearmond
- Make-up
- Department Head:
- Scott Eddo
- Artist:
- Ken Wensevic
- Prosthetic Make-up Artist
- Michael Mills
- Hair
- Department Head:
- Larry Waggoner
- Stylists:
- K.G. Ramsey
- Violet Ortiz
- Title Design
- Robert Dawson
- Additional Title Backgrounds
- Illusion Arts
- Syd Dutton
- Bill Taylor
- Matte Artists:
- Kelvin McIlwain
- Kenneth Nakada
- Producer:
- Catherine Sudolcan
- Additional Compositing
- Netter Digital Entertainment
- Visual Effects Supervisor:
- Laurel Klick
- Compositor:
- Beverly Bernacki
- Digital Main Titles
- Digiscope
- Digital Artists:
- Brennan Prevatt
- Grady Cofer
- Tim Clark
- End Titles/Opticals
- Custom Film Effects
- Additional Music
- Shirley Walker
- Musicians
- Taragato:
- Martin Robertson
- Bouzouki:
- John Parricelli
- Conductor
- Pete Anthony
- Orchestrations
- Geoff Alexander
- Art Kempel
- Patrick Russ
- Stephen Warbeck
- Andrew Green
- Music Supervisors
- Karyn Rachtman
- Associate:
- Carol Dunn
- Bobby Lavelle
- Supervising Music Editor
- Alex Gibson
- Music Editor
- Dan Garde
- Music Scoring Mixer
- Dennis Sands
- Soundtrack
- "The Mystery Men Mantra" by/performed by Mark Mothersbaugh, with additional vocals by Terry Bradford, Wil Wheaton, Nancye Ferguson; "Disco Inferno" by Leroy Green, Ron 'Have Money' Kersey, performed by The Trammps; "Boogie Oogie Oogie" by Janice Marie Johnson, Perry Kibble, performed by A Taste of Honey; "Calling Dr. Woodpecker" by Clarence Wheeler; "Ring My Bell" by Frederick Knight, performed by Anita Ward; "Night Fever" by Barry Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb, performed by Bee Gees; "Schneider Polka" by Henry Paul Elsnic, performed by Myron Floren; "Back in 1999" by/performed by John Oszajca; "Le Freak" by Nile Rodgers, Bernard Edwards, performed by Chic; "Play That Funky Music (White Boy)" by Robert W. Parissi, performed by Wild Cherry; "No Way" by Norman Cook, Ashley Slater, Dewey Bullock, Latanza Waters, Victor Mitchell, Kevin Nance, August Darnell, performed by Freak Power; "Keep, Keep Movin'" by Jason O'Bryan, Barry Ashworth, T.K. Lawrence, Willie J. Woods, Autry Dewalt, Harvey Fuqua, performed by Dub Pistols; "No More Heroes" by Jet Black, Jean Burnel, Hugh Cornwell, Dave Greenfield, performed by Violent Femmes; "Rainy Day Parade" by Jill Sobule, Robin Eaton, performed by Jill Sobule; "The Roof Is on Fire" by Gregory Wigfall, Jerry Bloodrock, Celite Evans, Richard Lee Fowler, Charles Pettiford; "Leonard's Lounge", "Won't You Come Down" by Joshua 'Spy' Ralph, performed by Spy; "That's the Way (I Like It)" by Harry W. Casey, Richard Finch, performed by KC & the Sunshine Band; "All Star" by Greg Camp, performed by Smash Mouth; "Hello Dolly" by Jerry Herman, performed by Petula Clark; "Gangsters" by Lynval Golding, Jeremy Dammers, Neville Staples, Terence Hall, John Bradbury, Rod Byers, Stephen Panter, performed by Citizen King; "O mio babbino caro" by Giacomo Puccini, Giovacchino Forzano, soprano: Miriam Gauci and the BRT Philharmonic Orchestra (Brussels); "Indigo" by Mark Brydon, Roisin Murphy, performed by Moloko; "A Fifth of Beethoven" by Walter Murphy, performed by Transmutator; "Who Are Those Mystery Men" by Kel Mitchell, Kenny Blank, Wade J. Robson, performed by Kel and the M.A.F.T. Emcees, Romaine Jones; "Sometimes" by Michael Franti, performed by Michael Franti & Spearhead; "Planet Claire" by Kate Pierson, Frederick W. Schneider, J. Keith Strickland, Cindy Wilson, Ricky Wilson, Henry Mancini, performed by The B-52s
- Choreography
- Anita Mann
- Sound Design/Sound Supervisor
- Stephen Hunter Flick
- Production Sound Mixer
- Douglas B. Arnold
- Re-recording Mixers
- Rick Kline
- Chris Carpenter
- Additional:
- Bill Benton
- Dubbing Recordists
- Tim Webb
- Bill Meadows
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Fred Judkins
- Dialogue Editors
- Alex Gonzales
- Jeff Kushner
- Jeff Kaplan
- Effects Editors
- Charles Maynes
- William Jacobs
- Peter Brown
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Victoria Rose Sampson
- Recordist:
- Diana Flores
- Mixer:
- Alan Holly
- Editors:
- Mary Ruth Smith
- Linda Folk
- Foley
- Artists:
- Dean Minnerly
- Edward Steidele
- Mixer:
- Albert Romero
- Editor:
- Dana Gustafson
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Mickey Gilbert
- Animal Trainer
- Steve Martin's Working Wildlife
- Cast
- Hank Azaria
- Jeffrey, 'The Blue Raja'
- Claire Forlani
- Monica
- Janeane Garofalo
- Caroline, 'The Bowler'
- Greg Kinnear
- Captain Amazing/ Lance Hutton
- William H. Macy
- Eddie 'The Shoveller'
- Kel Mitchell
- James, 'Invisible Boy'
- Lena Olin
- Dr Annabel Leek
- Paul Reubens
- The Spleen
- Geoffrey Rush
- Casanova Frankenstein
- Ben Stiller
- Roy, 'The Furious'
- Wes Studi
- The Sphinx
- Tom Waits
- Doctor Heller
- Eddie Izzard
- Tony P
- Prakazrel Michel
- Tony C
- Ernie Lee Banks
- Ted
- Gerry Becker
- Banyon
- Ned Bellamy
- Funk
- Corbin Bleu
- Butch
- Philip Bolden
- Roland
- Jake Cross
- Thugs
- Ricky Jay
- Vic Weems
- Louise Lasser
- Violet
- Emmy Laybourne
- reporter
- Jenifer Lewis
- Lucille
- Mason Lucero
- young kid
- Monet Mazur
- Becky Beaner
- Joel Mccrary
- Funk
- Chris Mugglebee
- reporter
- Olivia Lauren Todd
- Tracy
- Frederick Usher
- thug
- Kinka Usher
- Moe
- Gayle Vance
- Sally
- Adrian Armas
- Gichi Gamba
- Thomas Lake
- Robert Musselman
- Solo Scott
- Erik Michael Tristan
- disco boys
- James Duke
- Big Tobacco
- Andreea Radutoiu
- Ungela Brockman
- Kimberly James
- Angelica Bridges
- furriers
- Michael Bay
- Riki Rachtman
- Noah Blake
- frat boys
- Robert Barnett aka T-Mo
- Willie Knighton Jr aka Khujo
- Thomas Burton aka Cee-Lo
- Cameron Gipp aka Gipp
- rappers
- Michael Chieffo
- Gil Christner
- Carl Strano
- suits
- John Brantley Cole
- Robert Chow
- Steven Jang
- Sung Kang
- susies
- Jody Watley
- Shane Johnson
- Sunny Görg
- Jennifer Lee Keyes
- Sasha Bray
- Marie Matiko
- disco girls
- Artie Lange
- Big Red
- Margaret Wheeler
- old lady
- Billy Beck
- Robert Lieb
- old men
- Sarah Kane
- Florence Stone Fevergeon
- old party-goers
- Ed Denette
- old veteran
- Kiyoko Yamaguchi
- Kiko Kiko
- Nori T. Gehr
- back-up singers
- Mark Mothersbaugh
- band leader
- Nancye Ferguson
- singer
- Katie Adams
- Shirley Bowden
- Lu Gay
- Helen Etting
- Crystal Gaer White
- Valerie Gitter
- Mae Greenstein
- C. Elane Innes
- Irene Kamsler
- Miriam R. Lawless
- Teresa MacLean
- Joanne McDermott
- dancers
- Stacey Travis
- Joann Richter
- powerwomen
- Larkin Campbell
- supervacman
- Oliver Clark
- reverse psychologist
- Jack Plotnick
- Mr Pups
- Dane Cook
- waffler
- Robert Musselman
- Ballerinaman
- Vince Melocchi
- Mailman
- Doug Jones
- Pencilhead
- Vincent Bowman
- Son of Pencilhead
- Vylette Fagerholm
- Little Miss Vengeance
- Dana Gould
- Squeegeeman
- Branden Williams
- Maintainer
- Aaron Priest
- The Artiste
- Robert B. Martin Jr
- Big Billy Hill Billy
- Gabrielle Conferti
- PMS Avenger
- Jeff Z. Danziger
- Radio Man
- Wilbert Sampson
- Kenneth W. Watts
- pigs
- Elliot Durant III
- martial artist
- Anthony Sebastian Marinelli
- gorilla
- Drinda E. Shaneyfelt
- Evil Devil Woman
- Felix Castro
- Globalman
- Michael Craig
- Gardener
- Ronald Lasky
- Bullfighter
- David Still
- Stilt Man
- Jonathan Khan
- Fisherman
- Jerry Farmer
- Thirsteyman
- Certificate
- PG
- Distributor
- United International Pictures (UK) Ltd
- 10,840 feet
- 120 minutes 27 seconds
- Dolby digital/Digital DTS sound/SDDS
- Colour by
- DeLuxe