Mystery Men

Mystery Men
Directed by	Kinka Usher
Written by	Comic Book Series: Bob Burden Screenplay: Neil Cuthbert
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin Mike Richardson
Starring	Ben Stiller Hank Azaria William H. Macy Paul Reubens Janeane Garofalo Kel Mitchell Wes Studi Greg Kinnear Geoffrey Rush Claire Forlani Tom Waits Eddie Izzard Lena Olin Ricky Jay Louise Lasser Artie Lange
Cinematography	Stephen H. Burum
Edited by	Conrad Buff
Music by	Stephen Warbeck
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release dates	August 6, 1999
Running time	121 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$68,000,000
Box office	$33,461,011

Mystery Men is a 1999 comedy film directed by TV commercial director Kinka Usher. It starred William H. Macy, Ben Stiller, and Hank Azaria as a trio of lesser superheroes with fairly unimpressive superpowers who need to save the day. The film's two great strengths were considered to be the art direction and the dialogue, much of which was improvised by the cast. Despite its list of stars, Mystery Men was widely considered to be a flop with a final box office gross of just $29,762,011 within the USA and $3,699,000 outside the USA .

It has since been developing something of a cult following. The soundtrack prominently featured the Smash Mouth song "All Star" and clips from the film form the basis of the song's video.

Plot synopsis

In the fictional metropolis of Champion City, three men, Mr. Furious, The Shoveler, and the Blue Raja, attempt to make a name for themselves as heroes, but find themselves upstaged by the superpowered and well-sponsored Captain Amazing. However, Amazing is finding that his skill at capturing villains has left the city with virtually no crime, and his sponsors are threatening to end their deals. In order to create a need for a superhero, Amazing uses his alter ego, the billionaire lawyer Lance Hunt, to argue for the release of the insane Casanova Frankenstein. The plan backfires; once reunited with Tony P and his Disco Boys, Frankenstein blows up the insane asylum, captures Amazing, and sets his sights on creating a doomsday device, the "Psycho-frakulator" which can bend reality. Mr. Furious, while spying on Frankenstein's mansion, discovers Amazing's abduction, and tells the others. The three realize they need more allies, and through word-of-mouth and try-outs, they bring aboard The Spleen, Invisible Boy, and the Bowler. The newly formed team, fumbling over each other, attempt to distract Frankenstein by vandalizing his car with him inside, then sneaking into his mansion to rescue Amazing, but only manage to annoy Frankenstein and accidentally kill Amazing with the Psycho-frakulator.

Without Amazing, the team believes there is no way they can save the city, when they are joined by The Sphinx, who helps to unify them and plan another assault on Frankenstein's mansion. They also enlist the help of non-lethal weapons expert Dr. Heller who provides them with armaments and the parts to make their assault vehicle, the Herkimer Battle Jitney. Mr. Furious, feeling his position of authority, as well as his apparent lack of powers, is in question, finds solace in talking with Monica, a diner waitress, who tells him to just be himself. Mr. Furious rejoins the team, and they lay their attack on the mansion, subduing most of the henchmen with their weapons and powers. As they try to approach Frankenstein, he reveals that he has kidnapped Monica, and, with the team helpless to stop him, he activates the Psycho-frakulator and attacks the city, causing mass destruction. As the team figures a way to stop the device, Mr. Furious takes on Frankenstein, and, encouraged by Monica, is able to unleash his anger power and defeat him; Frankenstein falls into the core of the Psycho-frakulator and is killed by its reality-bending powers. The rest of the team helps the Bowler use her bowling ball (containing her father's skull) to destroy the Psycho-frakulator. They escape the mansion as the device implodes upon itself.

As the film closes, the team is interviewed by reporters, begging to know what their team name is. As they arguing among themselves, one reporter offers up the "Mystery Men", but the others don't listen.

Cast and Characters

Ben Stiller as Mr. Furious. Mr. Furious' claim to powers is super-strength, but only when he becomes incredibly angry; however, this claim is only verified by an unsubstantiated report of him being able to lift a bus. His real name is Roy, and he works at a junk yard, which is where the team assembles the Herkimer Battle Jitney.

William H. Macy as The Shoveler. His special ability is his finesse in using a shovel in a broad variety of ways. His choice of lifestyle causes consternation with his wife Lucille (Jenifer Lewis) and children.

Hank Azaria as The Blue Raja. The Raja has the ability to throw any silverware accurately as a tool or weapon, except for a knife. Though he speaks in a British accent during missions, he is actually a middle-aged American adult that still lives with his mother Violet (Louise Lasser) and attempts to keep his superhero persona secret from her.

Paul Reubens as The Spleen. Cursed by a gypsy, The Spleen can aim his superpowered flatulence to take out his targets, but he smells terrible at all times.

Kel Mitchell as Invisible Boy. Invisible Boy claims he can become invisible, but only when no one (including himself) is looking.

Janeane Garofalo as The Bowler. She is actually the daughter of the original Bowler, seeking revenge on Tony P for the murder of her father. She has had her father's skull embedded into the center of a bowling ball. She appears to communicate with the spirit of her father which inhabits the ball, allowing it to fly over short distances when thrown by his daughter.

Wes Studi as The Sphinx. The Sphinx has the power to cut guns in half with his mind. He is one of the world's most respected superheroes and is able to offer the team advice, though most of it comes as cryptic sayings.

Tom Waits as Dr. A. Heller. Dr. Heller is a scientist that specializes in "non-lethal weapons", such as the "blame thrower".

Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing. A superhero with several powers who has been the champion of the city for years, earning him many sponsors that advertise on his suit, all managed through his agent Vic Weems (Ricky Jay). His alter ego, obtained by simply wearing a pair of glasses, is lawyer Lance Hunt.

Geoffrey Rush as Casanova Frankenstein. A long-time rival of Captain Amazing, Frankenstein is an insane genius seeking to destroy Champion City.

Eddie Izzard as Tony P. Frankenstein's second-in-command. Leader of the Disco Boys, he is armed with a can of highly flammable hairspray that he uses to attack his enemies. He is responsible for killing The Bowler's father by "making him fall down an elevator shaft, onto some bullets." The Disco Boys include Big Red (Artie Lange) and Tony C (Prakazrel Michel).

Claire Forlani as Monica, the waitress at the diner where the original team of three eat. Though she initially passes on Mr. Furious' attempts to flirt with her, she warms up to him, and tells him to be himself. This has the unfortunate effect of destroying his self-confidence, leaving him less effective in battle.

Cameo during the superhero tryout scene include Dane Cook as The Waffler, Doug Jones as Pencil Head, and Dana Gould as Squeegee Man.

Basis

The movie was loosely based on the independent comic book series Flaming Carrot Comics by Bob Burden, who also gets Writers Guild of America writing credits, though some characters were greatly changed from the original material. The Flaming Carrot was a member of the team and with the exception of Captain Amazing and Invisible Boy, all the heroes from the film appeared at least once as members (though there were many others as well-- the comics team had a high casualty rate). Casanova Frankenstein also once battled The Flaming Carrot.

Cultural references

• The scene in which Casanova Frankenstein rallies the different gangs together is a parody of a scene from the film The Warriors. Frankenstein even uses the same catch-phrase uttered by the gang leader Cyrus: "Can you dig it?"
• Captain Amazing's alter-ego hides his face behind glasses, a reference to Superman/Clark Kent; is a billionaire, a reference to Batman's Bruce Wayne; and is also the district attorney, in reference to Daredevil's Matt Murdock who is a lawyer:

The Shoveler: Oh yeah, well, maybe if we had a billionaire like Lance Hunt as our benefactor, then we could afford some advertising.

Mr. Furious: That's because Lance Hunt is Captain Amazing.

Blue Raja: Oh, here we go.

Shoveler: Oh, don't start that again! Lance Hunt wears glasses. Captain Amazing doesn't wear glasses.

Mr. Furious: [Long-suffering] He takes them off when he transforms.

Shoveler: That doesn't make any sense. He wouldn't be able to see!

• After defeating Casanova Frankenstein, Mr. Furious picks up his girlfriend and leaps from the second floor balcony of the mansion to the first floor below. The sound effect heard while he jumps is identical to the one used in the TV series The Six Million Dollar Man when Steve Austin jumped using his bionic legs.
• Twice in the film there are references to a now infamous audio clip of William Shatner from a looping session for Star Trek. First, when Mr. Furious is corrected by Casanova Frankenstein, he responds with "Don't correct me. It sickens me", a direct quote from Shatner, and the second being delivered by the Bowler as they are leaving a bar, she states "I say sabotage, sabotage" (pronouncing the letter 'a' in the same way as the first, as opposed to the 'ah' sound with which it is usually pronounced). Shatner states the same in the audio clip. Shatner, however, took it a step further, and proceeded to slip in a 'sobatage'.
• Two auditioners are dressed up in Wonder Woman costumes and later fight each other thinking one copied the other.
• Two of the Frat Boys were played by action director Michael Bay (he's the one who asks if "we can bring our brewskies") and Riki Rachtman, former host of MTV's Headbanger's Ball.

See also

• The Specials

External links

• Mystery Men at IMDb
• Mystery Men at Rotten Tomatoes (63% Fresh)
• Mystery Men Easter Eggs