I'm not really into superhero movies. I found the Batman series to be a bit too over the top. I never cared much for Superman. The old Spiderman movie was just painful. When th X-Men movie came out, I really enjoyed it. I've always dug the X-Men, mostly Cyclops. I think it was because I was introduced to the X-Men when I was young, and I had just started wearing glasses. Naturally, I felt like a bit of an outcast, so when I saw a superhero with eyewear, I latched on a bit. So, Cyclops always held a special place in my heart.
But I digress. I said this would be a review of Mystery Men, and a review of Mystery Men it shall be.
Mystery Men came out in the summer of 1999, shadowed by big summer blockbusters like The Phantom Menace, The Matrix, and Austin Powers 2. It went by pretty much unnoticed, and it's been forgotten in the annals of film history. (Heh heh. I said "annal".)
So, anyway, the story is about a trio of wannabe superheroes in Champion City. Champion City, of course, already has a superhero named Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear). The trio, consisting of The Shoveler (who shovels very well / played by William H. Macy), The Blue Raja (who flings forks and wears no blue / played by Hank Azaria), and Mr. Furious (who gets angry / played by Ben Stiller), wants in on the action. Meanwhile, Captain Amazing is losing his corporate sponsorship because there aren't anymore supervillains. Naturally, he has his alter-ego, multi-millionaire Lance Hunt (who wears glasses), arranges to have one of Champion City's biggest supervillains released on parole. So, Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush) is let go, and he holds Champion City in an iron grip of terror. Of course, Captain Amazing has to do something about it, but his plan backfires and he's taken prisoner. It's up to the as-yet-unnamed-trio to save him. But they need manpower. So, they take on a few new members: Invisible Boy (who turns invisible as long as no one looks at him / played by Kel Mitchell), The Spleen (who farts / played by Paul Reubens), and The Bowler (whose ball contains the skull of her late father / played by Janeane Garofalo). They also take on a leader known as The Sphinx (who is terribly mysterious / played by Wes Studi). So, they hurry off to save Captain Amazing, and they end up frying him by accident. But they still need to stop Casanova Frankenstein from destroying Champion City.
With the help of a non-lethal weapons designer (played by Tom Waits), they invade Frankenstein's mansion, and confront him. But Frankenstein has an ace up his sleeve. He has kidnapped Monica the waitress whom Mr. Furious likes (played by Claire Forlani, who also played Brandi Svenning in Mallrats). Mr. Furious, who has been doubting his furiousness, becomes furious, kills Casanova Frankenstein, and kisses the girl.
I forgot to mention that this is a superhero movie I quite like. It's really funny, and there's planty of in-jokes.