Mystery Men (1999)

3 out of 4

Starring: Ben Stiller, William H Macy, Hank Azaria, Janeane Garofalo, Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush, Paul Reubens, Wes Studi, Claire Forlani

Director: Kinka Usher

Time: 121 mins

A failure at the North American summer box office, Mystery Men is nevertheless an enjoyable spoof of superhero stories like Superman and Batman. It is based on a Dark Horse comic book series, and, much like 1997's comics adaptation, Men in Black, relies on a combination of offbeat and deadpan humour, special effects and action sequences to keep you entertained. Though it doesn't have the star power and furious pacing of that Will Smith-Tommy Lee Jones collaboration, there are still enough jokes that play with your pre-conceived notions of superhero tales that make it a worthwhile 2 hours.

The film starts in Champion City, which is your typical futuristic metropolis, with sky high buildings and lots of neon lights. The crime rate is low, thanks to the intervention of Captain Amazing (Kinnear), a superhero whose action suit is covered with patches from his corporate sponsors. The prospect of diminishing crime and, hence, little need for his superhero powers, forces Amazing, in the guise of his alter ego, billionaire Lance Hunt, to press for the release from prison of his most capable adversary, Casanova Frankenstein (Rush). Once he tastes freedom, however, Casanova reunites with his sidekicks, the Disco Boys (Bee Gees standards play whenever these dudes appear), and traps and captures Amazing. And, of course, Casanova also has a fiendish plan to destroy Champion City. With Amazing out of the way, who will come to the rescue?

Our inept heroes, of course. They are Mr Furious (Stiller), whose special power is his rage, the Shoveler (Macy), who shovels very well, and the Blue Raja (Azaria), a fork-throwing, British-accented, momma's boy. When they realise they need more firepower, they recruit the likes of Invisible Boy, the Spleen (Reubens), the Bowler (Garofalo), and the most mysterious of all, the Sphinx (Studi, from Last of the Mohicans). After a crash training course and armed with some powerful weapons, our group of misfits are ready to take on Casanova and his henchmen. Or are they?

The fun in Mystery Men is in seeing the rules of superhero stories broken. Though each of the would-be saviours possess some power, they're not the type of power one would associate with super human beings. The Spleen uses his flatulence, and the Sphinx utters inanities like "Do not doubt your powers, or you will give power to your doubt." Though not consistently hilarious, I found the parts with the Sphinx, especially when spewing his confusing pearls of wisdom, to be sidesplitting.

What would a superhero film be without action? Though Mystery Men is not action-packed, it delivers a couple of sequences which show off the superheroes' powers to good effect. In the end, the film is probably too long by about 20 minutes, but it uses the time to develop the characters, especially The Shoveler's family background and Mr Furious' growing relationship with a cafe waitress (Forlani). The acting is alternately tongue-in-cheek and deadpan, with a hammy turn by Rush as the supervillain Casanova.

First time director Kinka Usher has fun with the ideas and characters in Mystery Men. It's not as juicy an entertainment as Men in Black, but it's quite good in its own right.

(c) Joe Wong