Harry here with a review from the Life of Bryan... and here's his impressions of MYSTERY MEN (there should be many looks on the site tonight)...
Hey Harrry, long time reader first time writer. As luck would have it I found my way into an invitation only screening of "Mystery Men" on this lovely evening, and here's how it went:
Before the film started, a guy from Universal spoke to us and said the print we were seeing needed to have the colour fine-tuned and end credits added, but the actual content was all there.
For those of you unfamiliar with the story, a group of superhero wannabes who live in Champion City must rescue Captain Amazing, a real superhero, from the evil Cassanova Frankenstein and save the city.
The Mystery Men are as follows:
Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller): Mr. Frious is prone to fits of extreme rage, which he uses against criminals. Stiller was hilarious, particularly in one scene where he tries to wreck Frankenstein's car.
The Shoveler (William H. Macy): The Shoveler hits people with a shovel. Macy was good in the role, and his quiet acting provided a good contrast to Stiller.
The Blue Raja (Hank Azaria): Raja throws cutlary, speaks with a British accent (even though he isn't British) and lives with his mom. Azaria, along with Stiller, stole the movie.
The Bowler (Janene Garafalo): The Bowler throws a bowling ball containg the head of her dead father. Garafalo was fine, I was pretty indifferent to the character.
The Sphinx (Wes Studi): The Sphinx cuts guns in half with his mind, and dispenses cliched pieces of advice. Studi was excellent, a nice surprise.
The Spleen (Paul Reubens): The Spleen passes lethal gas. The character was pretty annoying and didn't add anything to the film.
Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell): Turns invisible when no on is looking. The film would have been better without him.
The film was very entertaining and enjoyable, but not without problems. Kinka Usher's directing was poor, using way to many close ups and not nearly enough wide shots to show off the graet sets. It was as if he was trying to imitate Shumacher's direction of "Batman and Robin". Keep the camera still, damn it! Also the film trails off in the second half when they train and actually become good superheros. The first half is clever and original, while the second is formulaic. Finally, I wish Cassanova Frankenstein had had more of a character. Rush didn't have much to work with, which was probably why he ended up doing a cheesy German accent.
The film's visuals and performances are it's strong point, especially those by Stiller, Azaria and Greg Kinnear who was hilarious as the conceited Captain Amazing.
Overall, it was fun and I enjoyed it. It's fun to go visit a place as original as Champion City for 1h and 45 minutes, regardless of problems with the directing etc. "Mystery Men" is good, quirky summer movie fun, the type of movie "Wild Wild West" wanted to be. It's worth your 8 bucks and ***/*****.
