Film: "Mystery Men" (1999).
Conjuring up fond recollections of a game often played on improv telly show
'Whose Line Is It Anyway' (in which the contestants pretend to be crap
superheroes, funnily enough), this Dark Horse-inspired comic book adaptation -
complete with one of the year's best ensemble casts - gleefully lampoons the
activities of Batman, Superman and any other bloke who ever donned tights to
save the world. And if its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink approach does
sometimes fall flat, its one-joke concept still manages to just about sustain
the running time.
The setting, fictional metropolis Champion City, is kept a crime-free zone
thanks to Captain Amazing (Kinnear), the flamboyant superhero who has put
most of the city's villains behind bars and whose own fame extends to the
boundaries of Pepsi sponsorship (he even has his own publicist). Enter
Casanova, Frankenstein (Rush), whose world domination plans kick off with
kidnapping the Captain, and suddenly Champion City's future is in the hands of
a bunch of superhero wannabies.
This is a slim conceit and would certainly have benefited from half an hour's
judicious pruning. And the plethora of characters means some inevitably
suffer, in particular Lena Olin (as Rush's sidekick) and Claire Forlani
(supplying romantic interest), who end up in brief, largely thankless, roles.
That said, it's far more fun than most of the recent superhero efforts, lovely
to look at (the backdrops of Champion City are stunning), there's a great
sub-plot involving the group's Karate Kid-style mentor, and the script offers
astute and witty one-liners.
It's these which really give the film its edge, veering from post-modern
banter (notably a scene in which Macy and Stiller argue over Captain Amazing's
true identity) and downright daftness, through to a final reel which throws in
a few unexpected surprises, not all of them pleasant. Mystery Men tanked in
the States, where its irony and subversiveness flew straight over the heads of
summer audiences. The more cynical British market should ensure it doesn't
suffer a similar fate here.
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