Universal Pictures, Rated PG-13
Directed by Kinka Usher
Written by Neil Cuthbert

Back in the '70s and '80s, Bob Burden parodied comic books astutely with "The Flaming Carrot" and his friends the Mystery Men. Now it has been turned into a film with an all-star cast directed by a music video director. Ben Stiller is Mr. Furious, William H. Macy is The Shoveler, Janeane Garofalo is the Bowler, Paul Reubens is The Spleen, Wes Studi is The Sphinx and Kel Mitchell is Invisible Boy. These seven misfit superheroes team up to save the most powerful hero around (so powerful he has lots of commercial tie-ins) Captain Amazing (Greg Kinnear) from the clutches of the evil Casanova Frankenstein (Geoffrey Rush).
The film is better than most comic book based films but that isn't saying much. Most of its success is certainly not due to the script but the cast, who got to improvise many lines. Garofalo steals every scene she's in as usual and brings more to this film than there would be otherwise. Macy brings a lot to it as well. Unfortunately, the movie seems a little overcrowded with unneeded characters like Joel Shumacher's Batman films. Thank God for improvisation, or the film would not be half as enjoyable. Mystery Men has plenty of charm to overcome its numerous weaknesses. ***

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