MYSTERY MEN

MYSTERY MEN (1999) **1/2

Reviewed 8/15/99

Mystery Men is funny, and funnier if you know the conventions of superhero comics. Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear), the only legitimate superhero of Champion City, has no more supervillains to fight, but he needs to stay in the news to keep getting product endorsement offers. So Amazing gets his old nemesis, Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), out of the asylum, only to be captured by him. Enter a ragtag bunch of inept superhero wannabe's to the rescue. They are led by Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller) who has the power to get really angry, the Shoveler (William H. Macy) who fights with a shovel, and the Blue Raja, who throws dinnerware. Unable to beat even Frankenstein's minions, they enlist the Bowler (Janeane Garofalo), Invisible Boy (Ken Mitchell), the Spleen (Paul Reubens), and the Sphinx (Wes Studi). That the characters and actors are very likable (except for Stiller and Studi) helps the film to no end. Unfortunately, the film depends on the very archetypal plot contrivances that it is also making fun of to succeed. Also, a character's death late in the film and the failure of any real reaction to it points to writers Bob Burden and Neil Cuthbert caring too much about cold story mechanics. Still, Mystery Men is good for slight diverting entertainment.