Soooooo, Piper over at Lazy Eye Theatre had this fantabulous post about how some movies? Best left to the vague recesses of your memory, where you treasure them fondly and gloss over the crap parts.
For me, Mystery Men is one of those movies.
I remember seeing Mystery Men when it first hit DVD and really enjoying it. I thought it was pretty funny at the time. Now, not so much.
The premise is a little funny; inept, lesser “superheroes” have to ride in and save the day after the city’s internationally known superhero goes missing.
I Netflixed this for a bit of familiarity before I start on this epic series of Reader’s Choice and now I feel…disappointed. What should’ve been a nice palate cleanser turned out to suck. It’s not that Mystery Men can’t be funny; rather, Mystery Men takes a handful of funny jokes and throwaways and runs them ragged making an entire movie out of them. Too often the same bits are repeatedly continuously throughout the movie.
There’s something exceptionally off about Janeane Garofalo and I can’t figure out what it is. I loved her in Wet, Hot American Summer but in this one I just found her to be the grown up version of Daria. Ben Stiller and the rest of this crew (including Paul Reubens, Jesus) are completely unfunny. The one saving grace is William H. Macy as the Shoveler, who plays his role pretty honestly and therefore carries scenes through rougher patches.
Dude, even flipping Geoffrey Rush is awful in this. And it makes me cry sad tears that Eddie Izzard is in this (oh, Eddie, why?) as a disco-obsessed villain. Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing might have as well stuck a sign around his neck that said “DOING IT FOR THE PAYCHECK” because he obviously doesn’t care much. He just looks lazy throughout the entire thing.
And after wasting that time, I wish I had left Mystery Men back on the proverbial shelf, right where it belongs.
“Greg Kinnear as Captain Amazing might have as well stuck a sign around his neck that said “DOING IT FOR THE PAYCHECK” because he obviously doesn’t care much. He just looks lazy throughout the entire thing.”
And that fits his character perfectly. :)
And that fits his character perfectly. :)
I think his character is financially motivated and I see your point, but I don’t get the sense Kinnear’s trying to do anything remarkably noteworthy here. He showed up, did the bare minimum and left.
There were ways to make Captain Amazing more interesting, I think.
This was an excellent example of a great idea that wasn’t executed all that well.
Now, I like the film in the way that people root for the underdog. It’s not terribly funny, but it is charming, odd, and even features Tom Waits. How can you go wrong with Tom Waits? The cast is BEYOND quirky, and I love that. And Wes Studi steals it all for me – his pretzel logic kills me.
I also love what happens to Kinnear’s character. Shows that they weren’t afraid of a little dark humor.
But yeah, by no means is it great. And it has friggin’ “All Star” by Smash Mouth, and that song was so damn annoying. After the 8,347,931th time I heard it, I think I was done with it.
But yeah, by no means is it great. And it has friggin’ “All Star” by Smash Mouth, and that song was so damn annoying.
Dude, I loved Smash Mouth when I was in 6th grade. Now I’m like, “Really? I liked them? WHY?!”
So awful.
How can you go wrong with Tom Waits? The cast is BEYOND quirky, and I love that. And Wes Studi steals it all for me – his pretzel logic kills me.
Tom Waits was definitely a redeeming quality (he’s in Wristcutters – did you know that?) and I love Wes Studi, but the fortune cookie sayings just get beat to death. Poor guy. Wes Studi is awesome and I wish more people knew who he was!
I might be with you on this one. I always talk about it fondly, but I’ve been afraid to revisit it. I do remember loving Stiller in it, but my mind could be playing tricks on me.
I just downloaded “Fush Yu Mang” today to take a trip down memory lane. I haven’t had the courage to listen to it yet.
Also, I think I’ll always love Mystery Men. Anyone notice Dane Cook as THE WAFFLER? There’s just so many things I still love about this movie.
That being said, have any of you checked out http://natsukashi.wordpress.com/
They focus on Nostalgia Through Film, really interesting stuff.
Oh, also, I met William H. Macy once. Incredible.
Piper, I remembered loving Stiller too, and let’s just say I didn’t this time around. :p
Remember it fondly.
Scott, I have not seen Natsukashi! Thanks for recommending it. And you met William H. Macy? Holy god, that’s amazing!
I didn’t remember Dane Cook being in this until I watched it. I think that’s when it started to go downhill for me, considering there’s one bit I like that Dane Cook actually does and the rest? Is all irritating as hell. To me, personally.