August 5–12, 1999

movie shorts

Mystery Men

Directed by Kinka Usher, the comic-book-based Mystery Men spoofs all things superhero (much like TV's animated Tick did several years ago, only not quite so sly). Lucky for the citizens of Champion City who all want to be saved, there's no end of wannabe saviors (both sincere and looking for the product endorsement deals and free air time that come with the job). When reigning hero Amazing Man (plastic-faced Greg Kinnear) is captured by evil genius Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush), a motley crew of aspiring replacements steps up: ever-red-faced Mr. Furious (Ben Stiller), fork-throwing Blue Raja (Hank Azaria), nice guy Shoveler (William H. Macy), sweet (and tellingly black) Invisible Boy (Kel Mitchell), the testy Bowler (Janeane Garofalo), the inanely cryptic Sphinx (Wes Studi), and superfarter Spleen (Paul Reubens). So wrapped up are they in becoming legit superheroes, that you don't learn much about their daily lives, except that they're available for a sequel, and that Mr. Furious has a winsome waitress girlfriend (Claire Forlani), the Raja a badgering mom (Louise Lasser), and the Bowler a dead dad (whose skull she keeps in her lethal bowling ball). With a script credited to Bob Burden and Neil Cuthbert, the erratically funny film feels more like Stiller and his friends got together to get paid for messing around. Eddie Izzard and Fugee Pras Michel have too-brief turns as Casanova Frankenstein's henchmen, the Disco Boys.

—Cindy Fuchs