Mystery Men

Mystery Men
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Kinka Usher
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin Mike Richardson
Written by	Neil Cuthbert Bob Burden
Based on	Flaming Carrot Comics by Bob Burden
Starring	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 by	Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography	Stephen H. Burum
Edited by	Conrad Buff
Production company	Golar Productions Dark Horse Entertainment
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	August 6, 1999 (1999-08-06)
Running time	120 minutes[1]
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$68 million[2]
Box office	$33.5 million[2]

Mystery Men is a 1999 American superhero comedy film directed by Kinka Usher and written by Neil Cuthbert and Bob Burden, loosely based on Burden's Flaming Carrot Comics, and starring 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, and Tom Waits. The film details the story of a trio of lesser superheroes with unimpressive powers who are required to save the day.

Despite its list of stars, Mystery Men made a little over $33 million worldwide against a $68 million budget.^[2]

Plot

In the metropolis of Champion City, the would-be superhero team of Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller), the Shoveler (William H. Macy), and the Blue Raja (Hank Azaria) attempt to make a name for themselves, but their suspect skills make them ineffective, and they find themselves upstaged by the city's most successful superhero, Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear). However, Amazing is finding that his effectiveness at fighting crime has practically made his job obsolete, and without any worthy adversaries remaining (some of them are either dead, in exile, or still in jail), his corporate sponsors are beginning to pull their funding. To create a need for himself, Amazing uses his alter ego, billionaire lawyer Lance Hunt, to argue for the release of insane supervillain Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush). The plan backfires; once reunited with Tony P (Eddie Izzard) and his Disco Boys, Casanova Frankenstein blows up the insane asylum, captures Amazing, and prepares to unleash a doomsday device: the "Psycho-frakulator", which lethally bends reality. Mr. Furious, while spying on Casanova Frankenstein's mansion, discovers Amazing's capture and informs the others.

After an unsuccessful rescue attempt, the three realize they need more allies, and through word-of-mouth and try-outs, they recruit Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell), the Spleen (Paul Reubens), and the Bowler (Janeane Garofalo). The newly formed team "assaults" Casanova, which only succeeds in annoying him and damaging his car. While drunk from celebrating their victory, the team is nearly killed in retaliation by Tony P and the Disco Boys, but they are saved at the last minute by the Sphinx (Wes Studi). The Sphinx trains them, but his methods annoy Mr. Furious – he has them complete rote team-building exercises and speaks exclusively in Chiasmus. They also seek out mad scientist Doc Heller (Tom Waits), who specializes in non-lethal weaponry, to equip them for their battle.

The group breaks into Casanova's mansion during a gathering of several of the city's gangs; but, while attempting to free Captain Amazing, they inadvertently set off the Psycho-frakulator, killing him instead. Without Amazing, the team despairs of saving the city, but the Shoveler delivers a pep-talk that succeeds in uniting and inspiring them.

With new-found purpose, they assault the mansion and, by making effective use of their negligible superpowers and Heller's weapons, manage to subdue most of Casanova Frankenstein's henchmen. Unfortunately, as the heroes approach Casanova Frankenstein, he reveals that he is holding Mr. Furious' girlfriend Monica (Claire Forlani) hostage, and proceeds to activate the Psycho-frakulator, which begins to wreak havoc upon the city. While the team tries to stop the device, Mr. Furious takes on Casanova Frankenstein. After initially taking a beating, Mr. Furious unleashes his inner rage and manages to fight effectively for the first time. He defeats Casanova Frankenstein, who is thrown into the core of the Psycho-frakulator and killed by its reality-bending powers. The rest of the team helps The Bowler use her bowling ball to destroy the device and escape the mansion as it implodes.

The team is interviewed by reporters, begging to know their team name. As they argue among themselves, one reporter states "Well, whatever you may call them, Champion City will forever owe a debt of gratitude to these 'Mystery Men'," but the others are too busy arguing to hear it.

Cast

• Hank Azaria as Jeff / The Blue Raja, a superhero who throws cutlery with great accuracy.
• Claire Forlani as Monica, a waitress who becomes Mr. Furious' girlfriend.
• Janeane Garofalo as Carol / The Bowler, a superhero with bowling skills, who wields a crystal bowling ball that contains the skull of her dead father Carmine the Bowler (whom Tony P. killed years earlier).
• Eddie Izzard as Tony P., the leader of the Disco Boys.
• Greg Kinnear as Lance Hunt / Captain Amazing, Champion City's local superhero.
• William H. Macy as Eddy / The Shoveler, a sewer worker-turned-superhero who wields a shovel.
• Kel Mitchell as Invisible Boy, a superhero who can only become invisible if nobody is looking (including himself).
• Lena Olin as Dr. Anabel Leek
• Paul Reubens as The Spleen, a superhero who can deploy flatulence sufficient to induce fainting, at will.
• Geoffrey Rush as Casanova Frankenstein, a criminal genius with an assortment of weapons.
• Ben Stiller as Roy / Mr. Furious, whose superpower is to "get very, very angry".
• Wes Studi as The Sphinx, a mysterious superhero who can use his mind to cut guns in half.
• Tom Waits as Dr. A. Heller, a mad scientist who aids the Mystery Men by making non-lethal weapons for them to use.
• Prakazrel Michel as Tony C.
• Artie Lange as Big Red
• Ricky Jay as Victor Weems, Captain Amazing's publicist.
• Jenifer Lewis as Lucille, wife of the Shoveler
• Dane Cook as The Waffler, a waffle iron-wielding character who auditions to join up with the Mystery Men.
• Doug Jones as Pencil Head, a pencil-themed character who auditions to join up with the Mystery Men.
• Vincent Bowman as Son of Pencilhead, a pencil-themed character who auditions to join up with the Mystery Men.
• Dana Gould as Squeegee Man, a squeegee-wielding character who auditions to join up with the Mystery Men.
• Michael Bay, Noah Blake, and Riki Rachtman as Frat boys
• Goodie Mob including Cee Lo Green as the Not-So-Goodie Mob
• Monet Mazur as Becky Beaner
• Louise Lasser as the Blue Raja's mother
• Kinka Usher as Moe
• Mark Mothersbaugh as Bandleader
• Jack Plotnick as Mr. Pups
• Gerry Becker as Banyon
• Ned Bellamy as Funk
• Corbin Bleu as Butch
• Philip Bolden as Roland

Production

Paul Reubens stated that every actor was given a considerable amount of time.^[3] Each actor participated in the process of creating the mood and atmosphere of the movie.^[3] They were joined by top-notch creative forces behind the camera.^[3]

For the creation of Champion city production designer Kirk M. Petruccelli was challenged to create an imaginary city with traces to realism.^[3] Director Kink Usher said of the city "I wanted the city's exteriors to feel like a Hong Kong harbor ... You go visit any major city today and you will see an Asian neighborhood, a Spanish neighborhood... He then said they created a near-future reality.^[3]" Petruccelli state ""We wanted to create a retro European or worldwide vibe to Champion City.^[3]" Cassanova's mansion was inspired by engineering from the Spanish designer Gaudi, but the diner where Monica befriends Furious, works, is more like '40s Americana.^[3]

The film is full of color.^[3] Each character has their own world and each has a color palette conceived for them.^[3] Petruccelli said "Casanova Frankenstein's world is fundamentally insane so his house is full of coloration. The Invisible Boy on the other hand, lives in a monochromatic world.^[3]"

Music

The musical score for Mystery Men was composed by Stephen Warbeck. Written within a twenty-eight-day time span, the score was recorded on the Sony Scoring Stage.^[4] "I was quite liberal in the choice of instruments, because I've chosen a couple of Hungarian instruments, the tárogató and the cimbalom, and also a Greek instrument, the bouzouki," said Warbeck on the film's range of sounds. "And then Mike Fisher and the other percussionists have brought along an exciting range of stuff which are so interesting and varied that we keep picking bits of those and adding them in."^[5] After Warbeck's contributions were completed, the film's producers decided to alter various scenes. Because of this, composer Shirley Walker was brought in to create additional music and rearrange Warbeck's score to fit the new running time.^[4]

A soundtrack album was released on July 6, 1999 by Interscope Records.^[6]

Additional songs featured in the film include:

• "Planet Claire" – The B-52s
• "O Mio Babbino Caro" (Composed by Giacomo Puccini) – Miriam Gauci
• "Play That Funky Music" – Wild Cherry
• "A Fifth of Beethoven" - Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band

Release

Box office

In its opening weekend, Mystery Men grossed $10,017,865, ranking number six at the domestic box office.^[7] By the end of its run, on October 14, the film had grossed $29,762,011 domestically and $3,699,000 overseas, for a worldwide total of $33,461,011. Given its $68 million budget, the film is a box office bomb.^[2]

Critical response

The film received mixed to positive reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 60% based on 101 reviews; the consensus states: "Absurd characters and quirky gags are brought to life by a talented cast, providing this superhero spoof with lots of laughs."^[8] On Metacritic, the film has a 65/100 rating based on 24 critics, signifying "generally favorable reviews".^[9]

Jonathan Romney said that it was "a desperately hit-and-miss affair".^[10] Michael Dequina of The Movie Report said that it "fails to come up with worthy gags and one-liners for the able cast."^[11] Steve Murray of Cox News Service gave it a negative review, saying "Mystery Men is like its hapless heroes. It's a wannabe that has the best intentions – including a pronounced anti-gun stance – but none of the knack it takes to save the day, or itself."^[12]

British television channel Film4 gave it a positive review, saying it was "Hugely entertaining – especially for those with a thing for superheroes."^[13]

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Mystery Men

• Mystery Men at the Internet Movie Database
• Mystery Men at Box Office Mojo
• Mystery Men at Rotten Tomatoes
• Mystery Men at Metacritic