Mystery Men (1999)

Total Film
"...MYSTERY MEN succeeds where others have failed thanks to inventive ideas and a quality, rib-stroking cast. Stiller, Macy and Garofalo all turn in pitch-perfect performances..." 07/01/2000 p.103

Entertainment Weekly
"...Plenty of sharp satire....More than just another [superhero] joke..." -- Rating: B 01/14/2000 pp.80-1

New York Times
"...[A] crafty, tongue-in-cheek satire....With a terrific, offbeat cast operating on one shared, loony wavelength..." 08/06/1999 p.E14

Box Office
"...Affectionate and astute....[The film] boasts genius, cameo-bursting casting and frequently hilarious writing..." 10/01/1999 p.58

Los Angeles Times
"...It's clever....With expert and well-matched comic actors such as Stiller, Macy and Garofalo on the team, MYSTERY MEN has no trouble creating a consistent flow of amusement..." 08/06/1999 p.C1

Orlando Weekly 8 of 10
Movies adapted from comics tend to come off as either broadly cartoonish or pretentiously self-important. Mystery Men avoids these pitfalls because of the very nature of its not-so-super heroes. This is The B-Team, a group of crime-fighters who no one would think to call when things get rough. While they're fully aware of their lowly status, this doesn't stop the them from believing that their minuscule skills, when combined with massive determination, can somehow save the day. The sprightly action comedy Mystery Men, written by Neil Cuthbert and directed by Kinka Usher, is a self-aware superhero story. Champion City's official protector, Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), is a media hungry opportunist whose flashy costume is riddled with more advertising patches than a race-car driver and always makes sure the TV cameras are around to witness his derring-do. But the fickle public is getting bored with his easy victories. So Captain Amazing conspires to have his greatest nemesis, Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), released from a grimy prison. But Frankenstein is truly insane, and in short order has the official taken as his captive. This leaves the door open for the understudies to take center stage. They are a delightfully outlandish bunch... Welcome to dysfunction junction. Can this motley crew overcome their individual psychoses to form a cohesive fighting unit? With the help of the aphorism-spouting Sphinx (Wes Studi) and an ingenious nonlethal-weapons designer (Tom Waits), they dive in over their heads, battling Frankenstein's evil posse. Director Usher, a veteran of TV commercials, has the tendency to overuse in-your-face camera work, particularly in fight scenes. Perhaps accustomed to grabbing the attention of channel-flippers, he doesn't always trust the material or Mystery Men's greatest resource -- its terrific actors -- who have goofy charm to spare and really know how to put the punch in punchlines. - Serena Donadoni
 
San Francisco Chronicle 8 of 10
Someone ought to give the casting director of Mystery Men a prize. Maybe it's no mystery how they did it, considering the aggregate comic talent, but this bunch achieves peaks of sublime nuttiness. Just look at this gallery of ordinary joes who want to make it big in the superhero game despite the handicap of having no super powers: -- Janeane Garofalo as the Bowler, with her uncanny, dead-on delivery, both of her enshrined-skull bowling ball and her lines. -- Ben Stiller, entirely in black, right up to his don't-mess-with-me-mister glare, as Mr. Furious, a biker who rides a Harley Compatible. -- Hank Azaria as the Blue Raja, a "master of cutlery" who wears green and can throw spoons but not a knife. -- William H. Macy as the Shoveler, a straight arrow in a hard hat who whips out his spade with the aplomb of a cowboy drawing his six-gun. That's just for starters. Then there's Greg Kinnear, Geoffrey Rush and Paul Reubens. Waits. There's more. Tom Waits -- that's right, as a grizzled mad genius... There is one full-time superhero, Captain Amazing, played with an off-kilter crazed look by Kinnear. Amazing is also something of a worrywart. A superhero needs a super-villain, he broods, and there's none left in Champion City... There is one great villain, Casanova Frankenstein (Rush), but he is in prison. Amazing, who has a Clark Kent-like double life as bespectacled Lance, arranges to get Casanova paroled so his alter ego will have a worthy enemy. The scheme backfires, and the Mystery Men must recruit other would-be heroes to save Amazing. When they all gang up to attack Casanova's car with their various shovels, spoons and bad attitudes, the audience gets giddy with delight. Mystery Men, the best big-production comic fantasy since Addams Family Values, was directed by a TV commercial director, Kinka Usher. Don't knock it. He knows how to get in and get out quickly and make strong visual points. - Bob Graham