Mystery Men

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Mystery Men
Directed by	Kinka Usher
Produced by	Lawrence Gordon Lloyd Levin Mike Richardson
Written by	Comic Book Series: Bob Burden Screenplay: Neil Cuthbert
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 with Pras Michel Ricky Jay Louise Lasser Artie Lange Gil Christner
Music by	Stephen Warbeck
Cinematography	Stephen H. Burum
Editing by	Conrad Buff
Distributed by	Universal Pictures
Release date(s)	August 6, 1999
Running time	121 min.
Country	USA
Language	English
Budget	$68,000,000
Gross revenue	$33,461,011

Mystery Men is a 1999 comedy film based on a Dark Horse comic book series feature in Flaming Carrot Comics, 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 domestically and $3,699,000 outside the USA^[1].

It has since been developing something of a cult following.^[2] 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 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 confront Frankenstein in his limo, but succeed only in annoying him and vandalizing his car. A later attempt to sneak into his mansion to rescue Captain Amazing ends when they inadvertently kill the hero with the Psycho-frakulator.

Without Amazing, the team believes there is no way they can save the city. A mysterious man named The Sphinx helps to restore their morale 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 that both his position of authority and his apparent lack of powers are 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. Unfortunately, as the heroes approach Frankenstein, he reveals that he has kidnapped Monica, then proceeds to activate the Psycho-frakulator and wreak havoc upon the city. As the team figures out how to stop the device, Mr. Furious takes on Frankenstein. After being taunted by and taking a beating from Frankenstein, Mr. Furious unleashes his anger power and defeats Frankenstein who is thrown 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 argue amongst themselves, one reporter offers up the "Mystery Men", but the others don't listen.

Cast and characters

Ben Stiller as Mr. Furious. Mr. Furious' claimed power is super-strength, activated only when he becomes incredibly angry; however, this claim is only verified by an unsubstantiated report of him having once lifted a city bus (later described by Mr. Furious as "more of a push," aided by the bus driver who "kind of had his foot on the gas, just in the beginning"), and his final defeat of Casanova Frankenstein at the end of the film. 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, but refuses to throw knives, claiming that "you can't try and stop a crime by committing an even worse one." 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. His costume doesn't have any blue in it, with which he doesn't see a problem.

Paul Reubens as The Spleen. Cursed by a gypsy, The Spleen can aim his super-powered flatulence to take out his targets, but 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. This later proves to be true.

Janeane Garofalo as The Bowler. She is actually the daughter of the original Bowler, seeking revenge on Tony P (Eddie Izzard) 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. One of the world's most respected superheroes, the Sphinx is shrouded in myth, and has the power to cut guns in half with his mind. He offers the rest of the team advice, though most of it comes as predictable ("until you learn to master your rage, your rage will become your master") and often nonsensical ("when you learn to balance a tack hammer on your head, you will head off your foes with a balanced attack") platitudes.

Tom Waits as Dr. A. Heller. Dr. Heller is a scientist who designs weapons such as the "blame thrower" and the "shrinker." The Mystery Men almost dismiss him as a lunatic when he tells them that his weapons are strictly non-lethal, until he demonstrates a "canned tornado" on the Spleen. He frequents Champion City nursing homes, "for the ladies."

Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing/Lance Hunt. A legendary superhero who has kept Champion City safe for years, and whose suit displays a number of logos of corporate sponsors. Captain Amazing's alter ego is billionaire Lance Hunt, whose sole physical difference with the superhero is a pair of glasses. Mr. Furious at one point guesses at Amazing's true identity, but is dismissed by his comrades: "He takes them off when he transforms—" "That's ridiculous, he wouldn't be able to see!"

Geoffrey Rush as Casanova Frankenstein. An evil genius and longtime rival of Captain Amazing. While incarcerated in an insane asylum following his initial defeat by Amazing, he learned the mechanics of a reality-bending device known as a "Psycho-frakulator," which he constructs upon his release and uses to attack Champion City.

Eddie Izzard as Tony P. Frankenstein's second-in-command. Leader of the Disco Boys, he refuses to accept that the disco era came to an end: "Disco is NOT dead, disco is LIFE!" 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 temporarily removing his anger and leaves him less effective in battle.

Ricky Jay as Victor Weems, Captain Amazing's publicist, who manages all of his endorsements that keep the Captain famous and initially inspires him to challenge Frankenstein once more.

Cameos during the superhero tryout scene include Dane Cook as The Waffler, Doug Jones as Pencil Head, and Dana Gould as Squeegee Man. Cameos at Casanova's Mansion have two of the Frat Boys played by action director Michael Bay (he's the one who asks "can we bring the brewskies?"), and Riki Rachtman, former host of MTV's Headbanger's Ball, plus the act Goodie Mob as the "Not-So-Goodie-Mob."

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.

Soundtrack

• Smash Mouth, "All Star"
• Violent Femmes, "No More Heroes" (originally by The Stranglers), during the tryout scene
• Miriam Gauci, "O mio babbino caro" (Giacomo Puccini), during the skunk sex scene
• Freak Power, "No Way"

See also

• The Specials
• Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

References

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Mystery Men

• Mystery Men at the Internet Movie Database
• Mystery Men at Allmovie
• Mystery Men at Rotten Tomatoes (63% Fresh)