Mystery Men
1999  PG-13  FANTASY  2h
CAST— Hank Azaria, Claire Forlani, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Izzard, Greg Kinnear, William H. Macy, Kel Mitchell, Lena Olin, Paul Reubens, Geoffrey Rush, Ben Stiller, Wes Studi, Tom Waits
MUSIC— Stephen Warbeck  DIRECTOR— Kinka Usher  BASED ON— Characters appearing in Dark Horse Comics

     Here we go with yet another superhero movie… but this one’s different. This time we see a team of heroes who really aren’t that super, wannabes who are laughed at by the citizens and villains of Champion City. When Champion City’s real superhero, Captain Amazing, gets kidnapped by a ruthless supervillain, Casanova Frankenstein, it’s up to this rag-tag team of superheroes to save the day. Mr. Furious, The Shoveler, The Blue Raja, Invisible Boy, The Spleen, The Bowler, and The Sphinx (ridiculous characters with equally ridiculous “powers”) team up to defend their city, defeat the bad guy, and maybe become real heroes in this super fun film. Though the visual effects can be a bit overdone, the cast and characters more than make up for it. We like them and root for them because they’re idiots who screw up a lot, just like all of us in the real world.
OUR RATING— ***